Charles Albert Taylor (January 24, 1920 – May 7, 1994) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at Stanford University from 1940 to 1942, returned as head football coach from 1951 to 1957, and served as the school's athletic director from 1963 to 1971. During his coaching tenure at Stanford, Taylor compiled a 40–29–2 record and led the Indians to the 1952 Rose Bowl his first season. That same season, at the age of 31, Taylor was named AFCA Coach of the Year, the youngest recipient of the award ever.
As a sophomore, Taylor was one of the "Wow Boys" on the undefeated
1940 Stanford Indians football team
The 1940 Stanford Indians football team, nicknamed the "Wow Boys", represented Stanford University during the 1940 college football season. First-year head coach Clark Shaughnessy inherited a team that finished with a 1–7–1 record the previou ...
and played in Stanford's
1941 Rose Bowl
The 1941 Rose Bowl was the 27th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Wednesday, January 1. The undefeated and second-ranked Stanford Indians of the Pacific Coast Conference defeated the #7 ...
victory over
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
. As a senior in 1942, he was an All-Americanguard. Taylor was selected in the fourth round of the
1943 NFL Draft
The 1943 National Football League Draft was held on April 8, 1943, at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Detroit Lions selected running back Frank Sinkwich. This draft is the first NFL draf ...
by the
Cleveland Rams
The Cleveland Rams were a professional American football team that played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945. The Rams competed in the second American Football League (AFL) for the 1936 season and the National Football League (NFL) from 1937 to 19 ...
.
By coaching his team to the 1952 Rose Bowl, Taylor became the second person to have participated in the Rose Bowl Game both as a player and a head coach. The first was Wallace Wade who played for Brown in the 1916 bowl game and coached Alabama in 1926,1927 and 1931. Wade also coached Duke University in the Rose Bowl (1939 and 1941). Only six other men have accomplished this feat since Taylor.
After leaving coaching in 1957, Taylor returned to Stanford in 1963 as athletic director, where he served until 1971, when Stanford played in the
1971 Rose Bowl
The 1971 Rose Bowl was It was the 57th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Friday, January 1. The Stanford Indians of the Pacific-8 Conference defeated the second-ranked Ohio State B ...
, giving him the distinction of being only one of two men who has participated in a Rose Bowl Game as a player, coach, and athletic director. The other man is
Jess Hill
Jesse Terrill Hill (January 20, 1907 – August 31, 1993) was an American athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator who was best known for his tenure as a coach and athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC). His c ...
1930 Rose Bowl
The 1930 Rose Bowl was the 16th Rose Bowl game, an American post-season college football game that was played on New Year's Day 1930 in Pasadena, California. It featured the Pittsburgh Panthers against the USC Trojans.1953 and 1955 Rose Bowls, and was athletic director for the
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...
,
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
1970 Rose Bowl
The 1970 Rose Bowl was the 56th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Thursday, January 1. The USC Trojans, champions of the Pacific-8 Conference, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, cham ...
s.
For many years Taylor and his wife also directed a camp for young people in the coastal range of Northern California near Santa Cruz, called ''Mountain Camp'', where hundreds of young people enjoyed two-week sessions with unlimited recreation and character-building activities.
His youngest daughter, Janet Ann Taylor, was 21 when she was murdered near the Stanford campus on March 24, 1974. Confirmed serial killer
John Getreu
John Arthur Getreu (born August 26, 1944) is an American serial killer who was convicted of one murder during 1963 in West Germany and convicted of two more that took place in 1973 and 1974 in the United States. He is currently serving life impr ...