Sam B. Taylor

Samuel Brown Taylor (February 26, 1898 – April 1, 1966) was an American educator, Negro league baseball player, and college football coach. He served as the head football coach at Virginia State College for Negroes—now known as Virginia State University—in 1925, Clark University—now known as Clark Atlanta University—from 1925 to 1929, Prairie View State Normal & Industrial College—now known as Prairie View A&M University—from 1930 to 1943, Virginia Union University from 1945 to 1948, Bluefield State College—now known as Bluefield State University—from 1948 to 1958, and Kentucky State College—now known as Kentucky State University—from 1959 to 1961.

Playing career A native of Doswell, Virginia, Taylor attended Northwestern University. He played Negro league baseball for the Dayton Marcos in 1926.

Educator In 1943, Taylor was named the "Supervisor of Negro Education" for the state of Kentucky. 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 ruling in 1954.

Coaching career Virginia State Taylor began his coaching career at the Virginia Normal School and Industrial Institute (now known as Virginia State University) 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 Clark Atlanta University–in Atlanta, 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 Prairie View A&M University—in Prairie View, Texas. 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 in 1966 at age 68. He was inducted into the K-Club Athletic Hall of Fame October 2009.

Head coaching record Football

CFB Yearly Record Entry championship = year = 1961 name = Kentucky State overall = 3–2 conference = 0–1