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Fred Taylor (National Champion, OSU HOF, CBB HOF)

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Lash High grad, Zanesville native Taylor left long legacy of respect



By LOU LEMASTER ? Guest Columnist ? December 7, 2008

Although Ohio State University is known as a "football" school, it has also earned its share of glory on the hardwood.
The Buckeyes appeared in the first NCAA basketball championship game in 1939, losing to Oregon, 46-33. Most basketball fans remember that two years ago, under the able leadership of Thad Matta, the young Buckeyes lost the finale to Florida by a score of 85-75.
Ohio State's other three championship appearances (1960-1962) were directed by Zanesville native and Lash High graduate Fred Taylor.
Although Taylor did not play varsity ball in high school here, he starred in both basketball and baseball at Ohio State. In 1950, he started for the Big Ten champion basketball squad, and as a first baseman he was named the school's first baseball All-American. After briefly playing professional baseball for the Washington Senators, he returned to his alma mater, and was named OSU's head basketball coach for the 1959 season.

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Bob Hunter commentary: 50 years after title, coach deserves recognition, too
Sunday, January 31, 2010
By Bob Hunter
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

One guy who isn't here for the reunion of the 1960 Ohio State national championship basketball team might be the reason that the rest of the group is.

Would there even have been a national title without Fred Taylor?

Although there's no way to know where that team might have gone without its late coach, including individually, there's a good chance that this reunion never would have happened.
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Taylor's contemporaries have always recognized him as one of the best, and his players have always praised him for his willingness to adapt his coaching style to the talent on hand. When this group was gone, he changed everything to accommodate sharp-shooting center Gary Bradds, who couldn't get open on his own. That team went 20-4.

"He was a special person," Lucas said. "He knew people. He knew how to individualize his approach to the various people because there are all kinds of different personalities. Everybody had been a star on his team. To know how to blend a group of players like that takes a special skill, a special knowledge. I loved him dearly, and I know all of my teammates did."

Taylor loved them just as much. Until his death on Jan. 6, 2002, he was always talking about this group's attributes, both in 1960 and over the next two years: how well they blended together, how in three years they never lost a conference game until they had clinched the championship, how they had an almost perfect balance between offense and defense, how they never came close to having a player flunk out.

They clearly meant a lot to him, and on Jan. 20, 1980, at the 20-year reunion of the '60 team, Taylor stepped to the microphone and hesitated. His voice cracked.

"I said 20 years ago in a moment of weakness that I thought you folks around Columbus would be talking about these guys 20 years from now," he said.

He stopped and looked down for a couple of seconds. When he looked back up, there were tears in his eyes.

"Now you have and I appreciate it."

Thirty years later, he would be just as proud.
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Bob Hunter commentary: 50 years after title, coach deserves recognition, too | BuckeyeXtra
 
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Lucky me. In one year I took Woody's football course, basketball fundamentals from Fred Taylor and track from the man who coached Jesse Owens and the American Olympic track team, Larry Snyder.

Of the three, Taylor was the funniest. He writes "LOVE" on the blackboard in foot tall letters. "Guys, sooner or later this is going to happen to one of your players and create problems. We've got a big road game, Big 10 lead at stake. We meet up in the Student Union to catch the bus to the airport and one of my forwards is missing, 6' 6, 250 lbs and tough as nails, kind of a useful kid to have around. He wanders in fifteen minutes late with the girlfriend wrapped around him. We're ten minutes into the game and he's running up and down the court in a daze with his lips still puckered up."

An alternative thinker, "I can see that our center just doesn't know how to use his left hand, doesn't know how to set his feet up to go left. He didn't have to in high school so he never learned. We worked and we worked on it, but he just couldn't figure out how to switch his take off foot. Finally I took him over to the mens gym and taught him how to play hand ball. You can't play that game with just one arm, you have to be able to go left or right -- tennis and racquetball don't help because you're still setting up to use your right arm. When he finally learned how to hit the ball with his left hand he had taught himself how to use his left or right foot depending upon which hand he was going to hit the ball with and from there we could go back to the basketball court and move and shoot with his left because now he had his feet and legs in position."

"We spend too much time coaching big muscle skills, getting in position, keeping your weight on center. We don't spend enough on small muscle skills, focus on the fingers and the wrist, the ankles and the toes, that's where the great players excel over the average player."

"Blocking out and defense win games. Only one team in the NBA does it and that's the team with all the banners in their rafters." (referring to the Boston Celtics of the 50s and 60s)

The year following the departure of Lucas, Havlicek and Nowell -- all three consensus All Americans -- he won the Big 10 with Gary Bradds, duct tape and mirrors. Another time he traveled to Ann Arbor for the final game of the season needing a win to tie Michigan for the Big 10 title. He beat the then top ranked Cazzie Russell led Wolverines to win the title. The next day the story of the basketball game was buried below the fold in the Dispatch while the top featured two photos of Woody signing some kid from Delaware Hayes. The kid never played a down at OSU to the best of my knowledge.

He was roundly criticized for failing to recruit kids off a strong Columbus East team. He claimed they were demanding he give them more than the NCAA allowed. The kids ended up at Illinois and Louisiana something or other Southwest Tech and Fred ended up getting fired.

Bobby Knight claimed that Fred was the finest mind in all of college basketball coaching and called on him throughout his many seasons at Indiana. Not a bad reference.
 
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Buckeyes hang banner honoring Fred Taylor, coach of the 1960 Ohio State team: Video
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
January 31, 2010


Bob Knight, who won more games than any coach in men's college basketball, introduces a banner that will hang from now on in Value City Arena honoring the late Fred Taylor, coach of the Buckeyes from 1959 to 1976.

The banner is washed out in the video, but it reads "Fred Taylor, Head Coach, 1959-1976, 7 Big Ten Titles, 4 Final Four Appearances, 1 National Championship."

Every member of the 1960 NCAA championship team, gathering for a 50-year reunion this weekend, has talked about how great of a coach Taylor was, on and off the court
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Buckeyes hang banner honoring Fred Taylor, coach of the 1960 Ohio State team: Video | cleveland.com

http://tribeca.vidavee.com/advance/doc/080632F2B72E1B1DFD73048A1B532748?AF_deliveryChannel=play
 
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Best part about the banner unveiling was when Bob Knight directed everyones attention to the banner and it took like 20 seconds or so to reveal what it was. He goes, "I was starting to think there was a referee up there or something!"
Classic Bobby Knight
 
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Photo Gallery: Ohio State-Minnesota Hoops, 1960 National Championship Team Ceremony | General Article
 
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Zanesville's Taylor gets his due from the Knights
Dec. 23, 2011
By Rob McCurdy

CentralOho

COLUMBUS -- Pat Knight used to eat his Fruity Peebles with Billy Packer and drink his milk with Al McGuire.

"The cool thing I was spoiled with (was) we had a finished basement, so it was kind of like an apartment down there. Coaches would come to practice and would stay down there," Pat Knight recalled earlier this week.

The son of college basketball coaching icon Bob Knight admitted there was another favorite and frequent house guest.

"I'd wake up and there would be Fred Taylor," he said. "I remember Coach Taylor being a nice man, like a grandfatherly type guy to me when I was a little kid."

Taylor, a Zanesville native who died in 2002 at the age of 77, is also the only coach in Ohio State history to win a men's basketball national championship. Knight's father was a player on that most-beloved squad from 1960.

"Loved him to death. He was like a father figure to him," Pat Knight said of his father's feelings toward his old coach.

That was evident Tuesday when the elder Knight spoke at a fundraiser for a scholarship in Taylor's name.

"There is nothing in my lifetime that has matched the feeling that I had for the opportunity to play for Coach Taylor," Knight told the audience.

That's quite a statement, considering he won three national titles, coached a gold medal winning squad at the 1984 Olympics and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. But the building blocks for a career that took him to Army, Indiana and Texas Tech and enabled him to retire as the all-time wins leader in college basketball were crafted in Columbus.

"I was smart enough -- I think -- to know just how good he was and how many things he did to enable us to win games that maybe we wouldn't have won otherwise," Knight said of Taylor, who was inducted into the hall of fame in 1986. Taylor retired from his 18-year career in 1976.

Knight said the lessons he learned on Taylor's teams that went to three straight NCAA championship games were later applied when he became a coach -- preparation being the key.

"Just like any player who gets into coaching, your coach probably sets up the basis of all your coaching philosophy," the younger Knight said.

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http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder....Zanesville-s-Taylor-gets-his-due-from-Knights
 
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Fred Taylor in the major leagues, 1950
By: Linda Deitch
The Columbus Dispatch - February 07, 2012

Fred_Taylor_07.JPG

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
"FROM WASHINGTON, June 6, 1950 -- Fred Taylor, six foot, four inch Ohio State graduate, takes a first base post after he had been signed by the Washington Senators. Taylor, of Columbus (O), showed good batting form and will be given a tryout with the Senators before it is decided whether he needs further seasoning in the minors. He is a first baseman, of course."

Before Fred Taylor became a legendary basketball coach at Ohio State, he was a major league baseball player.

Taylor played with the Washington Senators from 1950-52. He then left baseball and went to back to OSU to coach basketball, where his program was a model of success.

He was OSU?s head men?s basketball coach from 1959 to 1976 and was the winningest coach in the school's basketball history. In 1960, his OSU team defeated California to win the NCAA crown.

Taylor passed away 10 years ago at age 77, remembered fondly by his players and associates.

OSU_BASKETBALL_-_1960_FILE_PHOTO_NCAA_CHAMPS.JPG

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
"SAN FRANCISCO, March 19, 1960 -- COACH CROWNED -- Ohio State coach Fred Taylor (center) has baskets cut down by winning NCAA champions draped over his head by guard Larry Siegfried (21) and star center Jerry Lucas, right, after win by Ohio cagers over California in San Francisco Cow Palace tonight."
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http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/a-look-back/2012/02/fred-taylor-in-the-major-leagues-1950.html
 
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Jon Teitel's "Coaching Greats": Ohio State's Fred Taylor
March 5th, 2012 by Jon Teitel

In the latest installment in his "Coaching Greats" series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Nikki Kelley, the daughter of the late Fred Taylor. Taylor, who also played at Ohio State, returned to the school and helped lead the Buckeyes to seven NCAA tournament appearances and a national title in 1960.

Jon Teitel: Your dad served in the Air Force from 1943-1946. What impact did his military service have on his role as a father?

Nikki Kelley: As with most who have served in the military, I believe his service gave him an appreciation for discipline. Not necessarily in a punitive sense, but more as a way for the four of us girls to understand the importance of having self-discipline in various areas of our lives.

JT: Despite not playing high school basketball he became an outstanding player at Ohio State and scored 10 points/game as a starting center on the 1950 team that won the Big Ten title. How was he able to become such a great college player, and how proud was he of that title?

NK: His years in the service were greatly responsible for him being able to hone both his basketball and baseball skills. He excelled in both sports while serving and at that time he was one of the youngest servicemen to coach a team. By the time his service was completed he had refined many of the skills that led him to be a successful athlete at the college level. He was quite proud of the team winning that title because he was fond of his teammates and pleased for the basketball program and university. He was able to prove to himself that he was definitely a capable and competitive athlete.

JT: That same year he also became the Buckeyes' first All-American baseball player and signed as a free agent with the Washington Senators. Which sport was he better at, and which one did he enjoy the most?

NK: He was highly competitive in both sports and enjoyed playing them both, but was probably a better baseball player. His professional baseball career might have lasted a lot longer had Mickey Vernon not played first base for the Senators. He did not have a favorite. Both sports were so different and required a different set of skills.

JT: After retiring from baseball he returned to Ohio State as an assistant basketball coach in 1958 and became head coach the following year. Why did he decide to get into coaching, and what did it mean to him to return to his alma mater?

NK: He had some experience leading and coaching teams in the service so it was not an entirely foreign field that he was getting into. He loved working with college kids and teaching them. He also wanted to instill in them the value of an education and the positive effect it would have on the rest of their lives. He was thrilled to be back at Ohio State. He was a fiercely loyal person and he never lost his loyalty to the university even during troubling times.

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http://collegehoopsnet.com/jon-teitels-coaching-greats-ohio-states-fred-taylor-169886
 
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