Taylor Allen

Reporter

Eighteen years old and still in high school, Taylor got his start with the Free Press on June 1, 2011.

Well, sort of.

When Taylor sat down in his Grade 12 English class at Maples Collegiate that day (the same class he’d skipped previous day to go downtown and celebrate the announcement of the NHL returning to Winnipeg), his teacher, Ms. Wilson, placed the front page of the Free Press’ sports section on his desk without saying a word.

Taylor looked down, and to his surprise, saw a gigantic picture of himself (proudly wearing a throwback Teemu Selanne Jets jersey) and his buddies (who had also skipped out on class) celebrating the big announcement at Portage and Main.

Fast forward six years — almost to the exact day — Taylor would wind up in the Free Press again. Luckily for readers, it wasn’t a picture of his face this time.

After winning the Vince Leah sports internship, Taylor had his first story appear in the Free Press on May 31, 2017. Taylor was brought back as the sports intern again in the summer of 2018, shortly after completing the joint Communications Degree/Diploma program between the University of Winnipeg and Red River College.

During his intern days, Taylor covered a wide range of things, including the 2017 Canada Summer Games, the Goldeyes, Bombers, and Bisons football. He also did a weekly series called Hall Call where he would write a story and conduct a podcast interview with different members of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. His guests included Cindy Klassen, Todd MacCulloch, Ulf Nilsson, Joe Poplawski, Corey Koskie, and many more notable names.

When Taylor’s 2018 internship ended, he spent a couple months out of the game, where he did some travelling and worked a marketing job, before a spot opened up in the sports department. He officially joined the Free Press team full-time in February 2019, which he considered to be a dream come true.

When he’s not running around the city to different sporting events, you can likely find Taylor arguing with his friends over fantasy football, planning his next solo backpacking adventure, trying to find the best burger in the city, or playing Spikeball.