# 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 College—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.

### Virginia Union

Taylor took over the reins as head football coach and track coach at Virginia Union University 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's Florida A&M Rattlers in the Orange Blossom Classic, 39–18.

### Bluefield State

In the summer of 1949, Taylor was hired as the head football coach at Bluefield State College—now known as Bluefield State University—in Bluefield, West Virginia. He coached at Bluefield State until late spring 1959.

### Kentucky State

Taylor was the 13th head football coach at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky 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 in 1966 at age 68. He was inducted into the K-Club Athletic Hall of Fame October 2009.

## Head coaching record
### Football

| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs |
| Virginia Normal Trojans (Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1924) ||||||
| 1924 | Virginia Normal | 5–3–3 | 1–2–3 | T–4th | |
| Virginia Normal: | Virginia Normal: | 5–3–3 | 1–2–3 | | |
| Clark Panthers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1925–1929) ||||||
| 1925 | Clark | | | | |
| 1926 | Clark | | | | |
| 1927 | Clark | 5–1–2 | | | |
| 1928 | Clark | 6–1–1 | | T–1st | |
| 1929 | Clark | 6–2–1 | | | |
| Clark: | Clark: | | | | |
| Prairie View Panthers (Southwestern Athletic Conference) (1931–1943) ||||||
| 1930 | Prairie View | 8–3 | | | L Prairie View |
| 1931 | Prairie View | 9–1 | | 1st | W Prairie View |
| 1932 | Prairie View | 6–3–2 | 2–2–1 | | W Prairie View |
| 1933 | Prairie View | 7–1 | | T–1st | W Prairie View |
| 1934 | Prairie View | 5–4 | 2–3 | 4th | L Prairie View |
| 1935 | Prairie View | 4–3–4 | 1–1–4 | 4th | L Prairie View |
| 1936 | Prairie View | 4–4–2 | 1–3–2 | 6th | W Orange Blossom Classic, L Prairie View |
| 1937 | Prairie View | 7–4 | 4–2 | 3rd | W Prairie View |
| 1938 | Prairie View | 5–2–3 | 2–2–2 | 3rd | W Prairie View |
| 1939 | Prairie View | 5–2–1 | 3–2–1 | T–2nd | W Prairie View |
| 1940 | Prairie View | 6–3 | 4–2 | 3rd | W Prairie View |
| 1941 | Prairie View | 7–1–2 | 4–0–2 | 1st | L Prairie View |
| 1942 | Prairie View | 5–2 | 3–1 | 2nd | L Prairie View |
| 1943 | Prairie View | 6–2–1 | | | W Prairie View |
| Prairie View: | Prairie View: | 84–35–15 | | | |
| Virginia Union Panthers (Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1945–1948) ||||||
| 1945 | Virginia Union | 4–4 | 4–3 | 7th | |
| 1946 | Virginia Union | 3–5–1 | 1–5–1 | 13th | |
| 1947 | Virginia Union | 4–5 | 3–5 | 9th | |
| 1948 | Virginia Union | 6–5 | 3–5 | 10th | W Orange Blossom Classic |
| Virginia Union: | Virginia Union: | 17–19–1 | 11–18–1 | | |
| Bluefield State Big Blues (Colored/Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1949–1958) ||||||
| 1949 | Bluefield State | 2–5–1 | 1–5–1 | 15th | |
| 1950 | Bluefield State | 6–3–1 | 4–2–1 | 6th | |
| 1951 | Bluefield State | 3–6 | 3–3 | 11th | |
| 1952 | Bluefield State | 1–7 | 1–5 | 14th | |
| 1953 | Bluefield State | 2–7 | 2–5 | 15th | |
| 1954 | Bluefield State | 8–2 | 6–1 | 4th | |
| 1955 | Bluefield State | 7–2–1 | 5–2–1 | 9th | |
| 1956 | Bluefield State | 6–1 | 5–1 | 6th | |
| 1957 | Bluefield State | 6–2 | 4–2 | 4th | |
| 1958 | Bluefield State | 5–2–1 | 4–2 | 5th | |
| Bluefield State: | Bluefield State: | 46–37–4 | 35–28–3 | | |
| Kentucky State (Midwest Athletic Association / Midwest Conference) (1959–1961) ||||||
| 1959 | Kentucky State | 3–5–1 | 1–1–1 | 2nd | |
| 1960 | Kentucky State | 2–8 | 0–3 | 4th | |
| 1961 | Kentucky State | 3–2 | 0–1 | | |
| Kentucky State: | Kentucky State: | 8–15–1 | 1–5–1 | | |
| Total: | Total: | | | | |
| National championship  Conference title  Conference division title or championship game berth ||||||