Janis Archive - Charley Taylor

Washington Redskins:

Whatever Happened To .... Charley Taylor
by Robert Janis

(I interviewed Charley Taylor via phone on April 11, 2005)

He was instrumental in helping the Washington Redskins reach six NFC Title games (1972, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, and 1991) winning five of them and five Super Bowls (1973 (Super Bowl VII), 1983 (Super Bowl XVII), 1984 (Super Bowl XVIII), 1988 (Super Bowl XXII), 1992 (Super Bowl XVI) ) winning three of them.
He was selected as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins of all time and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is ... Charley Taylor.
Born on September 28, 1941, Taylor was the second of seven children -- four girls and three boys. He was raised in Grand Prairie, Texas by his mother Myrtle and step father James Stevenson. Although a small town, Grand Prairie is in close proximity to Dallas, Ft. Worth, and Irving, Texas.
Myrtle was a domestic, a chef, a butcher, and an owner of a restaurant in Grand Prairie and James Stevenson constructed parts for airplanes.
The family, especially on his mother’s side, was large and included many uncles, said Taylor. All of the uncles were involved in sports in one way or another and most played baseball. They inspired young Charley Taylor to get involved in sports. He started playing actively in sports while in junior high school and by the eighth grade he was playing football, baseball, basketball and competing in track.
His sports prowess continued on when he attended Dalworth High School in Grand Prairie. According to Taylor, Dalworth was a very small school. “Only about 15 or 20 kids played sports,” he said. As time went on, the school attracted students from Ft. Worth and Irving. Taylor played football and ran the high hurdles, threw the discus and shot put, and competed in the long jump for the track team. The school did not have a baseball team, but Taylor played baseball in a summer league. As a result of his success on the playing field, he was named All-State in track and football.
His success in sports enticed both Arizona State University and the University of Southern California to offer him a scholarship. “I wanted to go to USC,” said Taylor. “I actually went out and visited the school and talked to the football coach. When I found out that I was like the number 13 running back on the depth chart, I realized that I would never see the field. So I decided to go to Arizona State University.”
Frank Kush was the head coach of the Arizona State University football team at the time. He had a reputation as being a very tough coach. “He wasn’t that tough. If you took care of business you were okay with him,” said Taylor.
He did remember that Coach Kush required players who made a mistake in practice to run up a sand hill. “I fumbled a couple times in practice and Coach Kush made me run the hill. Actually, I thought it was good. It kept us in condition so we could play in those awfully hot days in the desert,” said Taylor.
Taylor played running back and defensive back for the Arizona State University football team. He also pitched and played third base for the school’s baseball team. One day while in practice with the baseball team he was hit on a knee by a line drive. That ended his baseball career but he continued to concentrate on football.
His success in football led to Taylor being selected All-American two years in a row. He played in all the major all star games in his senior year including the Hula Bowl, the East-West Shrine Game, and the College All-Star game against the Chicago Bears.
Otto Graham was coach of the College All-Star team. For some reason, Graham had a problem with Taylor and publicly criticized him. Still, Taylor played both defensive back and running back in the game and was selected as the MVP.
He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 1964 National Football League draft. He joined the team as a running back. He could have been a Dallas Cowboy rather than a Redskin. The Skins and Cowboys tied in wins and loses the previous season and both were slated to pick in the same slot of the first round. A coin flip won by the Skins gave Washington the selection first and they chose Taylor. The Cowboys selected next and chose Mel Renfro. “I truly expected to be drafted by the Cowboys,” said Taylor. He was already a Cowboy fan having grown up in Grand Prairie near Dallas.
That first year Taylor rushed for 755 yards and caught 53 passes for 814 yards. At the time, his 53 catches was a record for running backs. He was selected as the NFL Rookie of the Year.
The head coach of the Redskins at the time was Bill McPeak. “McPeak stood up for me when I had my problems with Otto Graham at the College All-Star game,” said Taylor. “I was always grateful to him for that.”
He joined the team when the Redskins had Sonny Jurgensen at quarterback, Bobby Mitchell at flanker, and Sam Huff at middle linebacker. And he developed life long friendships with these NFL stars.
He especially remembers how Jurgensen, Mitchell, and himself would improvise plays and many times Jurgensen would draw up a play on the infield dirt of D.C. Stadium.
Still, despite Taylor’s, Jurgensen’s, Mitchell’s, and Huff’s exploits the Skins finished 6-8 in 1964 and 1965. At the end of the ‘65 season, Redskins owner Edward Bennett Williams fired McPeak and hired Otto Graham as head coach. Taylor and Graham had a past -- the College All-Star Game in 1964. “Coach Graham and I met and buried the hatchet,” said Taylor.
In Graham’s first year as coach in 1966, Charley Taylor started the season as the team’s running back. But Graham had amassed a group of big sized running backs including Steve Thurlow and Joe Don Looney. “Otto liked the big bull running backs,” laughed Taylor. “So, what was he going to do with old Charley Taylor?” Rumors spread throughout the Washington newspapers and on local sports shows that Taylor was being groomed to play wide receiver. And, in the middle of the season, actually in the middle of a game, Graham made the switch.
For about six games in the season, Taylor remembers playing both running back and wide receiver. Later in the season, the switch became permanent.
At first Taylor was very much against the move. “But I had Bobby Mitchell there to help me out,” he said. “Soon we were having a lot of fun.” It wasn’t long before the Redskins had the most potent passing game in the league.
Taylor led the league in receptions that year with 76 and in 1967 with 70.
Still, despite the robust passing game, the Redskins were unable to break into the play offs under Graham. After the 1968 season, Graham was fired and Vince Lombardi became head coach of the Redskins.
“Lombardi put the fear of God into our hearts,” quipped Taylor. “He said, ‘you play my way or not at all.’ He was a tough guy and he brought discipline to the team. He got everyone to work hard.” It worked. The Redskins finished the season 7-5-2 and looking forward to 1970. But before the ‘70 season Vince Lombardi died of cancer and Bill Austin, an assistant coach with the team, was named interim coach. “The players didn’t have much confidence in Austin,”
said Taylor. It showed. The team finished 6-8, Austin was fired and George Allen was named head coach of the team. “Allen brought enthusiasm to the team,”
said Taylor.
Results were immediate. The Redskins started the season winning the first five games in a row. The team was beating the Kansas City Chiefs for what would have been the sixth win when Taylor broke his ankle during a pass play. He was sidelined for the rest of the season.
Allen, always looking for some kind of an advantage against his opponents, sent Taylor out to the cities of the teams the Redskins would be playing the rest of the season to get any information on what the teams were planning.
“He sent me to Dallas to find out what they were planning. I would find and talk to anyone I could and even went to the Cowboys offices, then I would call George with the goods.” The Redskins finished 9-4-1 and reached the play offs for the first time in 28 years.
Taylor recovered from his injury and played the entire season for the Redskins in 1972. He was instrumental in getting the team to Super Bowl VII against the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins were undefeated that season. Still many of the pundits picked the Redskins to win. The Redskins defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC title game on New Year’s Eve 1972. The Super Bowl was scheduled to be played two weeks later.
“We worked hard for that game,” remembered Taylor. “And we worked hard during that bye week. We may have overworked. We were worn down a little. We may have been over coached. There was just too much time between games.” The Redskins lost 14-7.
For the rest of George Allen’s tenure as head coach, Charley Taylor was instrumental in making the Redskins a perennial play off contender. However, prior to the 1976 season, he broke his collar bone in an exhibition game and did not play for the entire season. “I could have played that year. But the team had to put me on injured reserve and the rule is that a player on injured reserve could not come back and play.”
Taylor played one more season and then retired. He was hired to work in the front office with Bobby Bethard and Bobby Mitchell as a scout. When Joe Gibbs became head coach of the Redskins in 1981, he selected Taylor to be the team’s receiver coach. He served in that position from 1981 through 1992. As a coach he helped to hone the skills of such Redskins receivers as Charlie Brown, Art Monk, Alvin Garrett, Virgil Seay, Rickie Sanders, and Gary Clark.
He left coaching when Richie Pettibon and his staff which included Taylor was fired prior to the hiring of Norv Turner as the Redskins head coach. “I never thought about becoming a coach for another team,” mused Taylor. “I was tired. When I worked with Gibbs we would be at it to 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. So, when I was fired as coach I was actually was glad. It meant that I could spend more time with my family.”
Although he missed most of the 1971 and all of the 1976 seasons due to injury, he retired as the all time leading receiver with 649 catches for 9,110 yards and 79 touchdowns. He had 50 or more receptions seven times during a 13 year career. He played in eight Pro Bowls and was named to the All-NFL or All NFC team three times. He was among the league’s top 10 rushers in 1964 and ‘65; was in the top 10 in rushing touchdowns in 1964; was among the top 10 in receptions from 1964 through 1975; in the top 10 in receiving yards in 1964, and from 1966 through 1974; and in the top 10 in receiving touchdowns from 1966 through 1967, and from 1969 through 1973. He is among the league’s all time top 50 in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, yards from scrimmage, and rushing and receiving touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984 and was selected as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins of all time. His jersey number 42 has been unofficially retired.
After he left coaching, Taylor worked for Jerry’s Ford in the Washington, D.C. area and sold boats for Fountain Boats in Annapolis, Maryland and he now does speaking engagements and serves as a consultant to the Redskins. He and his wife Patricia have been married since 1965. They have three children -- Elizabeth, Erica, and Charles, Jr. -- and three grandchildren -- Nathan, Jordan, and Robin. Taylor and his wife live in Reston, Virginia.

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