Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Jim Taylor, the great Packer FB from the Lombardi era, died this morning.

https://www.packers.com/news/former-pac ... dies-at-83

It seems to me that Taylor has been largely forgotten since his playing days. His name never comes up when people talk about the great running backs, but from 1960-64 he was the one guy you could mention in the same breath with Jim Brown. Sure, Taylor came off second-best in that comparison, but basically that was the best anybody could've done. And in 1962 he did beat out Brown for the rushing title -- by almost 500 YARDS.

Apparently Taylor wasn't very well-liked, even among his teammates with the Packers, and who knows, maybe there were good reasons for that. But he was a hell of a fullback, and shouldn't be forgotten.

Bob Gill wrote:It seems to me that Taylor has been largely forgotten since his playing days. His name never comes up when people talk about the great running backs, but from 1960-64 he was the one guy you could mention in the same breath with Jim Brown. Sure, Taylor came off second-best in that comparison, but basically that was the best anybody could've done. And in 1962 he did beat out Brown for the rushing title -- by almost 500 YARDS.

Apparently Taylor wasn't very well-liked, even among his teammates with the Packers, and who knows, maybe there were good reasons for that. But he was a hell of a fullback, and shouldn't be forgotten.

One reason the Packer sweep worked as well as it did was that, after Starr faked the handoff to Taylor, Taylor blocked the defensive left end. Other teams tried to run the sweep but it wasn't as effective for them because none of them had a fullback who could do that. They typically had to use the TE to block that defender. In the Packers' blocking scheme, the TE blocked the strongside LB.

Taylor was as tough as they come. Lombardi learned that very early. In a 1959 exhibition game, Taylor was apparently on his way to a TD on the weakside sweep. A DB had an angle on him but wasn't going to hit him until right around the goal-line. But Taylor deliberately swerved into the DB's path, knocked him down, and trampled him. In the process, however, he was tripped up and he went down short of the endzone.

On film day, Lombardi ran that play over and over. Finally, he turned off the project, turned on the lights, and strode over to Taylor.

"You see what you did there, Taylor?" he demanded.

Taylor grinned. "Yeah, I really stung that son-of-a-bitch, didn't I?"

Lombardi could only chuckle and go back to the projector.

Bob Gill wrote:It seems to me that Taylor has been largely forgotten since his playing days. His name never comes up when people talk about the great running backs, but from 1960-64 he was the one guy you could mention in the same breath with Jim Brown. Sure, Taylor came off second-best in that comparison, but basically that was the best anybody could've done. And in 1962 he did beat out Brown for the rushing title -- by almost 500 YARDS.

Had an argument with the wife yesterday about this. We were watching an NFL game, and the scroll at the bottom made note of Jim Taylor's passing. I said that it was odd, since most people probably have no idea who Jim Taylor is. My wife, whose historical knowledge of the NFL has come mainly through the osmosis of me having old NFL Films stuff occasionally playing on the DVD, disagreed with me, saying "Even I know Jim Taylor".

Anyway, I still think that Jim Taylor has been a name lost in history, for whatever reason.

Why isn't Taylor more remembered?

He had a plain name, which was too similar to the plain named Jim Brown. He had a more famous running back, Paul Hornung, on the same team, so it took a while for Taylor to be noticed.

He did nothing to keep his name on the scene after retirement. He didn't coach, or announce nationally, or become an actor. He moved back to his home state and didn't leverage his Wisconsin connections. He did work for the Saints in various capacities, but the organization was terrible for the entirety of his 20 year contract.

His relationship with Lombardi, and perhaps teammates, seemed to be less warm than others. He always showed up to camp in tip top shape, and didn't seem to invite the psychological approach Lombardi favored.

But he was clearly the toughest player on the team. He should be remembered for his great 1962 season and the NFL Championship Game that followed, which was his finest hour. RIP.

A Packer fan put together this video tribute to Taylor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkXMmeg ... ture=share

It's amazing how much yardage he gains after first contact. It also shows that he was a pretty good receiver. (The Lombardi Packers didn't throw much to their backs, but Hornung had great hands and Taylor had very good hands.)

Watch the long run that starts at about 2:10. You'll see LT Bob Skoronski blocking for Taylor about 70 yards downfield!

It's odd to me that he isn't more "remembered". From my generation, when I was a kid NFL Films (on TV and VHS I got) in the late 80's/early 90's showed a lot of Jim Taylor and Jack Lambert. Which is why by the time I was 7 or so years old those two were my favorite "old players". Stayed that way when I got older and got to see full games and more highlights.

Nothing I liked more than seeing how hard Jim Taylor ran, including the clip of practice.

Plus the clip of him talking about Hornung and the "broads he brought in" still is something I like to watch to this day. It's funny, to me.

I'm not sure where the stuff about his not being popular with his teammates comes from. Hornung, Dowler, and Kramer have all spoken very fondly about Taylor...and long before his death, so it wasn't post-mortem sentimentality. IIRC, Kramer mentions in one of his books that Taylor was pretty tight with a dollar, but that's not unusual among guys who grew up in poverty, as Taylor did, and he certainly wasn't the only player of his era--not even the only player on the Lombardi Packers--who had that reputation.

Green Bay fans certainly loved him. He gave autographs freely and willingly. One guy I know gave Taylor a whole collection of his football cards, at least a half-dozen of them, and Taylor very happily signed each one. That was some years after he retired, at some sort of reunion.

rhickok1109 wrote:I'm not sure where the stuff about his not being popular with his teammates comes from. Hornung, Dowler, and Kramer have all spoken very fondly about Taylor...and long before his death, so it wasn't post-mortem sentimentality. IIRC, Kramer mentions in one of his books that Taylor was pretty tight with a dollar, but that's not unusual among guys who grew up in poverty, as Taylor did, and he certainly wasn't the only player of his era--not even the only player on the Lombardi Packers--who had that reputation.

Not to speak poorly of the passed but Jerry Kramer said a lot more than "tight-fisted" in Distant Replay.
Without hunting for the book (so this isn't a direct quote) Kramer said while he was at a golf tournament Taylor offered his hand and Jerry refused to shake it. The over-all sentiment was that Taylor had cheated (or stolen?) money from Kramer and that if Taylor wanted to make things right he knew exactly how to do so and with how much.

Still, I don't understand how we are labeling Taylor as "forgotten."
Of the people I know who remember "Lombardi's Packers" Jim Taylor is one of the first names mentioned.
Sadly, with the passage of time those folks are becoming fewer and fewer... perhaps time is the real culprit here...

A lot of good comments on this thread. I saw Jim Taylor play on TV many times. I've seen internet pieces and comments (by people who weren't around in the 60's) expressing puzzlement about Hornung being rated ahead of Taylor despite Taylor's rushing stats being way better. For example, Paul Hornung was considered the Packers' premier touchdown maker despite Jim Taylor scoring 83 rushing TDs in his career to Paul Hornung's 50.

Hornung was a much better media personality to say the least and was considered the team leader. The writers always went to him for quotes.

There was a Sport Special on Jim Taylor in 1962. It pointed out Taylor was faster than Hornung, faster than most of the fullbacks in the NFL at the time. Weeb Ewbank, then the Colt HC, was quoted saying something like "As big as he (Taylor) is, he reminds me of Lenny Moore. He has some of the same wiggly, little moves."