FACTBOX: Facts about slain NFL star Sean Taylor

(Reuters)- Following are some facts about National Football League defensive player Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins, who died early on Tuesday, a day after being shot by an intruder in his Miami-area home.

* Sean Michael Taylor was born on April 1, 1983, and is the son of Pedro Taylor, the police chief of Florida City. Taylor played free safety for the Washington Redskins of the NFL.

* Taylor played high school football at Gulliver Preparatory School in Pinecrest, Florida, a suburb of Miami. In 2000, he rushed for 1,300 yards and a state-record 44 touchdowns.

* After a stand-out career at the University of Miami, Taylor was the fifth player selected in the 2004 NFL draft and signed a seven-year, $18 million contract with the Redskins. But before ever playing, he was fined $25,000 by the league for leaving a mandatory symposium for first-year players.

* By his third season, Taylor had become an All-Pro player with a reputation for fierce play that led teammates to nickname "Meast" -- half-man, half-beast. His style often resulted in penalties and in 2004 he was fined $17,500 for overly aggressive play. He also was accused of spitting at a Cincinnati Bengals player and in January 2006 was ejected from a playoff game and fined $17,000 for spitting in the face of Michael Pittman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

* Taylor was arrested twice during his time with the Redskins. In 2004 he was arrested in the Washington area on suspicion of drunken driving but was cleared. The next year he entered a no-contest plea in the Miami area after being accused of brandishing a gun in a confrontation with two people he accused of stealing an all-terrain vehicles from him. He was sentenced to 18 months probation.

* Teammates said Taylor, who made a policy of not speaking to reporters, had matured greatly since the birth of his daughter, Jackie, last year.

* Taylor intercepted 12 passes in his Redskins career, including five this season. He had missed the team's past two games with a knee injury.

(Writing by Bill Trott, editing by Vicki Allen)