Illini Couple: Up in the Air
Diehard Illini fans Sarah Jindra and Brent Taylor have enjoyed attending U. of I. football games throughout their relationship—first as college students, and now as a family of four. (Images courtesy of Sarah Jindra and Brent Taylor)
At first, a trampoline was involved. Later, he helped her report on traffic jams from a helicopter.
They met back in the days of fun and fundraisers. She and her Alpha Phi sisters would walk the Quad, jingling cans of change, hoping fellow students would get the hint and pitch in more coins to fight multiple sclerosis. A member of Farmhouse, he joined in the effort because his mother suffered from MS. There were marathon fund drives replete with novelty—financial appeals mixed with trampoline jumps. They may have jumped together—not sure. They were sophomores. They didn’t start dating for another two years.
That’s how it began for Sarah Jindra, ’04 MEDIA, and Brent Taylor, ’04 ENG. Today, they’re long married and deep into their respective careers. She co-hosts Spotlight Chicago, a culture and lifestyle talkfest that airs on WGN-TV weekdays from 1-2 p.m. Topics include media, music, and food, such as Jindra’s own Illini cake, which she has made on-air. “You just use a white cake mix,” she says. “Then you dye the layers orange and blue.”
Jindra landed in front of the studio cameras after years as a traffic reporter, calling in highway snarls from helicopters high above the Windy City. Taylor, a long-time superintendent for MQ Construction, does project management for the firm’s roadway projects in greater Chicago. “When I was doing traffic reporting, he knew all the projects that were causing problems on the roads,” Jindra recalls. “It worked out quite well.” “I caused the traffic jams,” Taylor explains. “And she reported on them.”
They now live in the north suburbs of the city, where their kids—Ty, 10, and Ava, 7—and their alumni neighbors all qualify as diehard Illini fans. At their Final Four party this past spring, Jindra says, “I served orange snacks: Goldfish, Fanta, orange Starbursts, orange Popsicles—anything I could find.”
Much credit for this happy life goes, improbably, to an anonymous U. of I. administrator. Initially rejected from the engineering program, Taylor followed up with a letter to the college and an unscheduled visit. “Somehow it all clicked. A dean happened to be there. I got the meeting. And they let me in,” Taylor recalls. “But I was never able to give him proper thanks later. Thank you, whoever you were. We owe you.”
If you found true love at Illinois, we’d love to know! Email us at IllinoisAlumni@uillinois.edu.
Illinois Alumni, Fall 2026
