Samuel Brown Taylor (February 26, 1898 – April 1, 1966) was an American educator,

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

baseball player, and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at Virginia State College for Negroes—now known as

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black land-grant university, land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia, United States. Founded on , Vi ...

—in 1925, Clark College—now known as

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the South ...

—from 1925 to 1929, Prairie View State Normal & Industrial College—now known as

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas, United States. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two lan ...

—from 1930 to 1943,

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Richmond, Virginia. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...

from 1945 to 1948, Bluefield State College—now known as

Bluefield State University Bluefield State University is a public historically black university (HBCU) in Bluefield, West Virginia. The university is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History The Bluefield Colored Institute was founded in 1895 as a " ...

—from 1948 to 1958, and Kentucky State College—now known as

Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU, and KYSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, and becoming a land-grant college in 1890, KSU is the second ...

—from 1959 to 1961.

Playing career

A native of

Doswell, Virginia Doswell is an unincorporated community in Hanover County in the Central Region of the U.S. state of Virginia. Originally called Hanover Junction, it was located on the Virginia Central Railroad (later, part of the C&O) at a crossing of the ...

, Taylor attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. He played

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

for the

Dayton Marcos The Dayton Marcos were a Negro league baseball team based from Dayton, Ohio that played during the early twentieth century. Founding and early years The Dayton Marcos history predates the formal organized leagues of Negro league baseball. As a ...

in 1926.

Educator

In 1943, Taylor was named the "Supervisor of Negro Education" for the state of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. He was one of the primary educators in the state of Kentucky responsible for de-segregation of public schools after the

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

ruling in 1954.

Coaching career

Virginia State

Taylor began his coaching career at the Virginia Normal School and Industrial Institute (now known as

) as its first men's basketball coach in 1924–25.

Clark

In September 1925, Taylor and his new bride, Lullene Perrin, moved to Clark College–now known as

–in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, where Taylor coached football until 1930. He also coached basketball and baseball at Clark.

Prairie View

In 1930, Taylor was hired as head coach at Prairie View State Normal & Industrial College—now known as

—in

Prairie View, Texas Prairie View is a city in Waller County, Texas, United States, situated on the northwestern edge of the metropolitan area. The population was 8,184 at the 2020 census. Prairie View A&M University, the second-oldest public university in Texas, i ...

Virginia Union

Taylor took over the reins as head football coach and track coach at

in 1945 after the war. Once again, Lewis "Jack Rabbit" Smith teamed up with Taylor and ran under the maroon and steel colors of Virginia Union. In 1948, the Virginia Union football team defeated

Jake Gaither Alonzo Smith "Jake" Gaither (April 11, 1903 – February 18, 1994) was an American college football coach and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Florida A&M University (FAMU) for 25 years, from 1945 to 1969, compilin ...

Florida A&M Rattlers The Florida A&M Rattlers represent Florida A&M University (FAMU) in college athletics. Florida A&M is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and participates in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). FAMU offers men's s ...

in the

Orange Blossom Classic The Orange Blossom Classic is an American annual college football game first held from 1933 to 1978 and again since 2021. Starting back up in 2021 the game has been played on Labor Day weekend. History In its first incarnation, the Classic featu ...

, 39–18.

Bluefield State

In the summer of 1949, Taylor was hired as the head football coach at Bluefield State College—now known as

—in

Bluefield, West Virginia Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bluefield micropolitan area extending into Virginia, which had a populatio ...

. He coached at Bluefield State until late spring 1959.

Kentucky State

Taylor was the 13th head football coach at

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat, seat of Franklin County, Kentucky, Franklin County in the Upland Sou ...

from 1959 until midway through the 1961 season when Mel Whedbee took charge of the team. Hip replacement surgery sidelined Taylor as the football coach, but he continued to coach track. In 1965, Taylor had the fastest quarter mile runner in the country.

Death and honors

After a lengthy illness, Taylor died in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

in 1966 at age 68. He was inducted into the K-Club Athletic Hall of Fame October 2009.Kentucky State University coaching records

Head coaching record

Football

Notes

References

External links

an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Sam B. 1898 births 1966 deaths American football ends Baseball first basemen Bluefield State Big Blues athletic directors Bluefield State Big Blues football coaches Clark Atlanta Panthers baseball coaches Clark Atlanta Panthers football coaches Clark Atlanta Panthers men's basketball coaches College track and field coaches in the United States Dayton Marcos players Kentucky State Thorobreds football coaches Northwestern Wildcats football players Prairie View A&M Panthers football coaches Virginia Union Panthers football coaches Virginia State Trojans football coaches Virginia State Trojans men's basketball coaches People from Hanover County, Virginia Players of American football from Virginia Baseball coaches from Virginia Baseball players from Virginia Basketball coaches from Virginia African-American baseball coaches African-American basketball coaches African-American coaches of American football 20th-century African-American sportsmen Sportspeople from Bluefield, West Virginia