Jan. 11, 2017
Three year lease on an Acura TLX goes to this guy! Now that’s some #MemorialMagic… congrats Andre! @GaryForceAcura pic.twitter.com/MEGiFuv6CU
 VandyMBB (@VandyMBB) January 11, 2017
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
When the shot left his hands, Andre Taylor knew it was good.
At halftime of Vanderbilt’s game against Kentucky on Tuesday night, Taylor earned the opportunity to shoot for a 2017 Acura TLX from Gary Force Acura. The attempt, of course, was from halfcourt at Memorial Gym. Taylor wasn’t nervous as he stepped on the Star V at midcourt. He got a running start, and let it fly.
“It felt good,” he says. “When I released it, I was like, okay, it’s on its way.”
Then, the shot fell.
“And the rest was history,” Taylor says.
Every one of the 12,707 fans in attendance at Memorial erupted as Taylor’s shot fell. He sprinted to the sideline and soaked in the crowd, high-fiving random fans along the way. Taylor even slapped palms with Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh, who was in Nashville for a coaches’ convention. Amid the euphoria, Taylor didn’t recognize the Wolverines’ headman; someone informed him later about the unlikely encounter. “What’s crazy is, I’m the biggest Buckeyes fan,” Taylor said.
Taylor’s dead-eye shooting earned him a three-year lease on a 2017 Acura TLX from Gary Force Acura in Nashville. “The smile of Andre’s face was priceless,” said Keb Barrett, General Manager of Gary Force Acura. “We do promotions like this with the hope that we can help change a life while supporting the university and the hard-working people involved.”
The timing couldn’t have been better: Taylor’s car actually overheated on the way to Tuesday’s game against Kentucky. He and his wife, Amanda, were forced to turn around and take her car to campus. But when the Taylors returned home following the game, they had a memory they won’t soon forget.
“I’ve watched the video about 200 times,” Andre Taylor says. “My wife put the video on Twitter and Facebook, and my phone has been blowing up. Everybody’s been calling and texting me. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”