Brice Union Taylor (July 4, 1902 – September 18, 1974) 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 and coach and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

athlete. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

as a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC), where he was one of first All-Americans in 1925 and the first African-American player for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

. Taylor served as the head football coach at Claflin University in

Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, also known as ''The Garden City'', is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population of the city was 13,964 according to the 2010 United States Census and declined to ...

in 1927 and from 1932 to 1933,

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the county seat, parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, E ...

from 1928 to 1931,

Bishop College Bishop College was a historically black college, founded in Marshall, Texas, United States, in 1881 by the Baptist Home Mission Society. It was intended to serve students in east Texas, where the majority of the black population lived at the t ...

Marshall, Texas Marshall is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Harrison County and a cultural and educational center of the Ark-La-Tex region. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Marshall was 23,392; The population of the Greate ...

from 1934 to 1935, and

Samuel Huston College Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

from 1936 to 1938.

Early years

Brice Union Taylor was born on July 4, 1902, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, Washington. His middle name of "Union" was given in honor of his birth falling on

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

. Taylor was a descendant of both African slaves and the

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Indian chief

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

. He was the youngest of ten children of Cyrus Taylor, a bricklayer. Orphaned at age 5, Taylor was taken in and raised by the DiJulio family of Seattle. Although he was born without a left hand, Taylor showed his athletic prowess while growing up in Seattle, Washington. and played football at Franklin High School.

College career

Taylor enrolled at the

, where he became a member of the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity and remained an active member throughout his life.

Football

Taylor played for the

USC Trojans football The USC Trojans football program represents University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 ...

team. He started as a fullback on Gus Henderson's 1924 Trojan team. In 1925, Howard Jones became the new head football coach and moved Taylor to offensive and defensive line and kicker. Taylor played all but four minutes of USC's eleven games that season, a school record that stood for decades. Taylor was also named USC’s first All American football player in 1925.

Track

Taylor was also a sprinter, hurdler and relay runner on the USC track team that won the

IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level col ...

meet at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

. He won the 100-yard dash with a 9.8 time, won the 220-yard high-hurdles and was the lead runner on the mile relay team that broke the world record that day. He was also selected for the US Olympic relay team for the Olympics held in Paris in 1924 but due to a sprained ankle, he was not able to compete.

Professional career

In June 1927, Taylor was hired as the head athletic coach at Claflin University in

. The following year, he was appointed as head athletic coach at

. He served as head coach for the Southern Jaguars football team from 1928 to 1931.Thomas Aiello

''Bayou Classic: The Grambling-Southern Football Rivalry'', Globe Pequot, September 1, 2007, accessed January 29, 2013. There he began what would become the

Bayou Classic The Bayou Classic is an annual college football classic rivalry game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars, first held under that name in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, although the series ...

against rival

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African American Herita ...

.Ken Rappoport & Barry Wilner

''Football Feuds: The Greatest College Football Rivalries'', Globe Pequot, September 1, 2007, accessed January 29, 2013. He led the Jaguars to their first undefeated season in 1931.Southern Yearly Results
, College Football Data Warehouse, accessed January 29, 2013. Taylor returned to Claflin in 1932. From 1936 to 1939, Taylor coached at Samuel Huston College, which later merged with Tillotson College to form Huston–Tillotson University in

. Taylor later became a high school football coach and teacher at Jefferson High School in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and an associate pastor at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. While a football coach at Jefferson High School, he began a weekend program for students at the high school by opening the gym on Saturdays as well as hosting Sports Nights during the week, offering an opportunity for students to participate in sports activities and games while keeping them off the streets in Central Los Angeles. Besides coaching football, Mr. Taylor also taught

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

and gymnastics. In 1969, Governor

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

appointed him to be the Director of Head Start within the

Office of Economic Opportunity The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda. It was established in 1964 as an ...

(OEO) in California.

Death and honors

Brice Taylor died on September 18, 1974, in Los Angeles, after having a stroke two weeks prior. He was survived by his wife, Dora Jones Taylor and their three children; two sons, Cryus and Henry, and a daughter, Dora Ada. Mr. Taylor was honored as Teacher of the Year by the City of Los Angeles in 1969 and received the University of Southern California General Alumni Association Service award in 1970. Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty appointed Brice Taylor to the Mayor's Community Advisory Board in 1964. Taylor was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995. There is a plaque honoring him as the first All-American at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the Memorial Court of Honor. Every year, the Brice Taylor Award is given to a USC alumnus for outstanding civic service in their community.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Brice 1902 births 1974 deaths American disabled sportspeople American football fullbacks American football guards American male hurdlers American male sprinters Bishop Tigers football coaches Claflin Panthers football coaches Samuel Huston Dragons football coaches Southern Jaguars football coaches USC Trojans football players USC Trojans men's track and field athletes Franklin High School (Seattle) alumni Sportspeople from Downey, California Coaches of American football from Washington (state) Players of American football from Seattle Track and field athletes from Seattle African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople