Chuck Taylor

Bio

Charles Albert "Chuck" Taylor was a fullback for the 1939 Stanford freshman team. When he moved up to the varsity in 1940, a new coach, Clark Shaughnessy, installed a new formation, the T, and moved Taylor to guard. Stanford, which had finished 1-7-1 in 1939, moved to 10-0. That included a 21-13 victory in the Rose Bowl over Nebraska. Taylor was a consensus All-America guard in 1942. He served in the Navy and was with an amphibious force in the 1944 landing at Normandy in France. Taylor played one year, 1946, with the Miami Seahawks of the All-America Conference, returned to Stanford as freshman coach in 1948, was assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers 1949-50, and returned again to Stanford as head coach in 1951. His 1951 team went 9-2, was in the Rose Bowl, and earned Taylor election as Coach of the Year. He was age 31, the youngest man ever named Coach of the Year. In seven years his Stanford teams had a 40-29-2 record. He left for another business and returned to Stanford again to serve as director of athletics 1963-71. Stanford again played in the Rose Bowl, and Taylor was heralded as a man who had gone to the Rose Bowl as a player, head coach, and athletic director.

Career Highlights

• 1942 Consensus All-America
• 1941 First Team All-America