Credit to UNC football’s Mack Brown, Carolina teammates and students for going all-in to support UNC player Taylee Craft who died of a rare form of lung cancer. He was diagnosed in March 2022 and died in October 2024. He was 23, graduated in May and was enrolled in grad classes after medically retiring and becoming a student assistant coach.
The team had honored Craft, a wide receiver from Sumter, S.C., during the Georgia Tech game by wearing shirts with his name and number 13. The basketball team did the same at the Blue-White exhibition later that day.
In December 2023, Craft was presented the Disney Spirit Award, given annually to an inspirational figure in college football on or off the field, including players, coaches, fans and cheerleaders. Although it wasn’t something he was familiar with, when he researched the award, he was immensely honored. Disney chose to honor Tylee for his inspiring acts in his community amid his own challenges with lung cancer. His enthusiastic attitude stood out amongst all others.
“I always try to be positive,” Tylee said. “A lot of people go through a lot of different things that we don’t know about. Me being positive can maybe influence them to be positive as well. I don’t like to think negative, it’s pointless … as long as I can see people smiling and having fun, that is all that matters.”
Brown said, “This young man fought so hard for his two and a half years. The doctors told us he outlived what he should’ve. And he did it with the spirit, he did it with a smile on his face, he didn’t miss a meeting, he didn’t miss practice, he coached these other incredible young people.”
Virginia honored Craft’s memory with a helmet decal for the UNC game.
Nearly $100,000 was raised from 1,000 donors in a gofundme campaign for Craft’s mom.