Charley Taylor obit

Charley Taylor, Hall of Fame receiver for Washington Redskins, dies at 80

 

He was not on the list. 

Charley Taylor, a Hall of Fame wide receiver who finished his career in 1977 as the NFL’s all-time leading pass catcher and whose elegance and elusiveness made him one of Washington’s most acclaimed football stars, died Feb. 19 at an assisted-living facility in Northern Virginia. He was 80.

The cause was not announced, though the Commanders confirmed his death in a statement.

Mr. Taylor joined Washington’s professional football team in 1964 as a first-round draft choice, the third pick overall. He was recognized from the beginning as a budding superstar.

“He had the great, smooth, classical moves that you don’t teach,” said Frank Kush, his coach at Arizona State, where Mr. Taylor was a two-time all-American. “He had it all. He was poetry on a football field.”

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Mr. Taylor spent his first two seasons in Washington as a running back. In his NFL debut against the Cleveland Browns, he scored a touchdown on a 17-yard run and caught eight passes for 88 yards.

“Taylor probably is the greatest natural football player I’ve ever seen,” Washington Coach Bill McPeak said in 1964. “He combines power, speed and fine open field moves.”

Fans and opponents saw the full extent of Mr. Taylor’s talents in the fifth game of his rookie season, when Washington met the Philadelphia Eagles.

It was Redskins quarterback Sonny Jurgensen’s first game against his old team, which had traded him before the season. (Jurgensen passed for five touchdowns in a 35-20 Washington victory.)

Mr. Taylor ran for 61 yards and caught three passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns. In the third quarter, he flared out of the backfield toward the left sideline and caught Jurgensen’s pass at the line of scrimmage, the Washington 34-yard-line.

He immediately spun away from one tackler, then faked out a charging linebacker three yards later. Farther downfield, Mr. Taylor seemed trapped by three defenders but slipped between two of them and then made a sudden move to his left, leaving the third Eagle flat on his face. He then escaped two more lunging defenders as he sped down the left sideline on his way to the end zone.

Mr. Taylor eluded no fewer than seven would-be tacklers during his spectacular 66-yard run. It was the kind of play that would become a hallmark of his career. He often turned short passes into long gains through his broken-field running and his 9.6-second speed in the 100-yard dash.

“I felt that being a running back, being able to run through the line and make guys miss, helped me in the long run,” Mr. Taylor told NFL Films, “because if I would get the ball on a cornerback who was not used to facing too many running backs downfield . . . he was at a disadvantage.”

In 1966, after Otto Graham became Washington’s head coach, Mr. Taylor was moved to split end, forming a remarkable receiving corps that included Hall of Fame flanker Bobby Mitchell and tight end Jerry Smith.

“I wasn’t really all that sure about the switch at the time,” Mr. Taylor told The Washington Post in 1984, “but obviously it was the best thing that ever could have happened to me.”

Mr. Taylor led the NFL with 72 receptions in 1966, scoring a career-high 12 touchdowns. The next year, despite missing two games to injury, he led the league again, with 70 catches. His teammates Smith and Mitchell finished second and fourth, respectively, with 67 and 60. Mr. Taylor was second in the NFL with 71 receptions in 1969 and again in 1973, with 59.

Still, Washington’s powerful air attack was not enough to overcome lackluster defenses throughout the 1960s. Mr. Taylor did not see his first winning season until 1969, when Vince Lombardi coached the team for his only season in Washington.

In 1971, George Allen took over as head coach, installing a new style of offense built around the run and featuring Billy Kilmer as the primary quarterback.

“I had to change my whole style of playing for George,” Mr. Taylor told The Post in 1979. “His theory was controlled offense, take no chances, and teams knew it. Sure I was frustrated.”

After missing eight games with a broken ankle in 1971, Mr. Taylor returned the next year to lead the team with 49 catches. He also became known as perhaps the NFL’s best blocker among wide receivers.

With a spirited group of older players dubbed the Over-the-Hill Gang, Washington finished the 1972 season with an 11-3 record and met the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC championship game for the chance to advance to the Super Bowl.

In the second quarter, Mr. Taylor caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Kilmer. Early in the fourth quarter, with Washington holding a 10-3 lead, Kilmer heaved a 45-yard pass to Mr. Taylor, who caught the ball in stride as he crossed the goal line, leaving his Dallas defender diving in vain at his heels. Washington won, 26-3, in a game Mr. Taylor recalled as “a mirage, when everything we tried worked, when every pass was on the money, when we could do no wrong.”

The team traveled to Los Angeles to face the unbeaten Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VII. On the Tuesday before the game, a Black player on Washington’s injured reserve list, Jim Snowden, missed the team curfew. Allen, the coach, wanted to send him back to Washington as a disciplinary measure.

“But that Wednesday all the Black players on the team came to me,” Mr. Taylor told The Post in 1979. “I was the captain. The petition said, ‘If you send Snowden home, we’re not going to play the game.’ ”

Mr. Taylor and another team captain, Len Hauss, persuaded Allen not to discipline Snowden, thus avoiding a team mutiny. In the end, the Dolphins won the Super Bowl, 14-7, capping the only perfect season in NFL history.

“The team was kind of upset about the whole [Snowden] thing,” Mr. Taylor said. “I can’t say that’s why we lost the game to Miami. But it sure didn’t help.”

Charles Robert Taylor was born Sept. 28, 1941, in Grand Prairie, Tex. His mother was a domestic worker, cook and restaurant owner, and his stepfather worked at a manufacturing plant.

Mr. Taylor made all-state teams in football and track and went to Arizona State on an athletic scholarship. He graduated in 1964.

After Washington won a coin toss with the Cowboys to determine which team would get the third pick in the NFL draft, Mr. Taylor was selected by Washington. When he retired in 1977, he held the all-time NFL record with 649 catches. His 90 career touchdowns, including 11 by rushing, are still the franchise record.

He was on Washington’s coaching staff from 1981 through 1993 and helped shape the career of Art Monk, who surpassed his career mark for receptions. Mr. Taylor was one of three people — including assistant coach LaVern “Torgy” Torgeson and player and coach Richie Petitbon — associated with all five Washington teams to reach the Super Bowl.

Mr. Taylor later became an executive with a Virginia construction firm, had other business interests and made speaking appearances.

Survivors include his wife since 1965, the former Patricia Grant; three children; and several grandchildren.

In January 1984, Mr. Taylor was helping Washington prepare for the Super Bowl when he learned that he had been named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The players began singing, “Here’s to Charley, he’s happy, he’s jolly,” as he fought back tears.

“I feel very proud, obviously,” Mr. Taylor said. “I went through some great times, and I went through some tough times, a lot of ups and downs, and I feel like I’ve paid my dues, no question. But I enjoyed it all, every minute of it.”