LaVerne Harrison "Kip" Taylor (November 25, 1907 – July 17, 2002) 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 with ...

player and coach. He served as the head coach at Oregon State College, now

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

, from 1949 to 1954, compiling a record of 20–36. 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 rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as an

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

as the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1927 to 1930.

Playing career

Taylor earned all-state honors in football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

at Pioneer High School. He attended the

, graduating with an education degree in 1931. There he played right

for the

Wolverines The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

. Taylor scored the first touchdown at

Michigan Stadium Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest stadium in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, the third largest stadium in the world, and the ...

in 1927.

Coaching career

Taylor began his coaching career at the high school level. He was the head football coach at George Rogers Clark High School in

Whiting, Indiana Whiting is a city located in the Chicago Metropolitan Area in Lake County, Indiana, which was founded in 1889. The city is located on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. It is roughly 16 miles from the Chicago Loop and two miles from Chicago's ...

before returning to his alma mater, Pioneer High School, as head football coach in 1940. In six seasons at Pioneer, he led his teams to a record of 37–5 with undefeated seasons in 1940, 1941, and 1943. In January 1946, he was hired as an assistant coach at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

to serve under head football coach

Biggie Munn Clarence Lester "Biggie" Munn (September 11, 1908 – March 18, 1975) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was the head football coach at Albright College (1935–1936), Syracuse University (1946), and mo ...

. At Oregon State, Taylor's teams had a 20–36 record in his six seasons guiding the Beavers, but that included a 5–1 record against

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. In his first season, he led the

1949 Oregon State Beavers football team The 1949 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State College as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) during the 1949 college football season. In their first season under head coach Kip Taylor, the Beavers compiled an o ...

to an upset of eighth-ranked

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, 25–20, when they were three-touchdown underdogs.

Later life and death

Taylor managed the Columbia Edgewater Country Club in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, and the University of Michigan Golf Course before retiring in 1972. Taylor died of natural causes on July 17, 2002, in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Kip 1907 births 2002 deaths American football ends Michigan Wolverines football players Michigan State Spartans football coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches High school football coaches in Indiana High school football coaches in Michigan Players of American football from Ann Arbor, Michigan Coaches of American football from Michigan