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New Villager learned life lessons at an early age By STEVE DAY, DAILY SUN THE VILLAGES - During the 1960s, West Virginia was a hotbed for college football players. The streams of the Mountaineer State also teemed with a wide variety of fishing opportunities.Growing up in the town of Williamson in the state's southern coalfields afforded Jim "Droopy" Taylor a chance to showcase his skills on the gridiron and learn a thing or two about landing a fish. Football and fishing both would become very dear to Taylor and each would play a major role in the direction his life would take. On the gridiron, Taylor earned first-team all-state honors at Williamson High School. He also played on the basketball team."We won the state championship in football in both my junior and senior years," Taylor said.While football was a game full of emotion and hard hitting, fishing allowed Taylor an opportunity to relax and get away from the spotlight. Taylor, who recently moved to The Villages, was raised by his grandmother and it was she who introduced him to the sport of angling."My grandmother started me. We would sit on a creek bank and fish," Taylor recalled. "My brother had a cabin on Dewey Lake in Kentucky and we would go there and fish for crappie." Upon graduation from high school, Taylor chose to take his football skills to Virginia Tech."In those days, they made the freshmen go to summer school," Taylor said. "I went home to play in the West Virginia-Kentucky All-Star game, and my grandmother had passed away, and I got a Dear John letter from my girlfriend. I decided to go stay at my brother's house and not go back to school."Taylor's high school coach learned of his former player's change in plans. He was not going to let Taylor waste his considerable talent."He took me to Marshall and they took me right in," Taylor said. "It turned out to be the best four years of my life."For Taylor, the gridiron was exactly where he needed to be."It was just in my blood. I started playing in the Little Leagues when I was in the fourth grade, and by the time I was in the seventh grade, I was too big to play Little League," he said. "I played on the junior high team as a seventh-grader, and when I was a freshman, another guy and me were the only freshmen on the varsity. I started on the varsity for three years. It was just meant for me to play football."When Taylor, who played center in college, was a sophomore at Marshall, he was a teammate of senior Bob Pruett. Pruett would return to Marshall as head coach and lead the Thundering Herd to unprecedented heights. In fact going into the 2005 season, Pruett's winning percentage led all active coaches in Division 1-A."I had no idea he would become such a great coach, but he was a workaholic," Taylor said.Pruett retired as Marshall head coach following the 2004 season."I had played golf with him two years ago at Bonita Springs, and he talked about retiring. He stayed around one more year," Taylor said.Taylor majored in physical education and business education at Marshall. He has many memories of his career, including his introduction to future Chicago Bears linebacker Doug Buffone."The hardest I was ever hit was by Doug Buffone in Louisville," Taylor recalled.Taylor married before his senior season at Marshall and he and his new bride decided they wanted to move to Florida upon graduation."My football coach got us jobs at Fernandina Beach. We got jobs sight-unseen," Taylor said with a laugh.At Fernandina High School, Taylor was an assistant football coach, junior varsity basketball coach and golf coach.When he accepted the job at Fernandina Beach, Taylor knew it was time to continue with his other love - fishing."Once again, fishing was in my blood, and when we came to Florida, we bought a boat before we got our first paycheck," Taylor said.After two years at Fernandina High School, Taylor pulled up stakes and decided to continue his teaching and coaching career at Orange Park High School in Clay County. He would stay at the suburban Jacksonville school for 30 years and would make quite a name for himself."He's a legend in this area. He was one of the most respected coaches and athletic directors in the northern Florida area," said current Orange Park athletic director John Green. "He's been retired eight years, and people still talk about him and tell stories about him."Green, who attended and coached at Orange Park during Taylor's tenure there, remembers Taylor as being quite serious when it came to his job."To line a football field with Jim Taylor was quite serious. You took the lessons to heart," Green said. "When he was athletic director, he wouldn't let anyone else line the varsity football field. Now I won't let anyone else do it but me. I tell them I was trained by one of the best men in the world."Green described Taylor as definitely an old school coach who could burn your ears if you messed up, but only if he liked you."When he got red in the face, you knew you were in trouble, but it was always out of love," Green recalled. "He lived the good life and didn't just push it. His character was impeccable. He taught you right and wrong and lived it."In addition to being athletic director at Orange Park for about 15 years, Taylor coached basketball, football and golf at the school. Five of his golf teams went to the state tournament.With Taylor as athletic director, Orange Park finished among the top five athletic programs in the state year-in and year-out."Under his leadership in, I think 1996, Orange Park was named athletic program of the year in the state of Florida," Green said.The football fieldhouse at the school bears Taylor's name."He pretty much raised all the money and got the resources to build it," Green said. "In fact, he and the other coaches pretty much built it. I watched them lay brick and watched them dig the ground with shovels. He was the inspiration behind it."Taylor is a member of both the Williamson and Orange Park high school athletic halls of fame.In his spare time during his career at Orange Park, Taylor fished whenever he could."In 1976, I joined a local B.A.S.S. club and started fishing in tournaments. After I retired, I went out on the tour," Taylor said. "I struggled to break even."Taylor may not have had a profitable career in tournament fishing, but he more than left his mark on the sport.For instance, Taylor set a one-day record when he reeled in five bass weighing more than 35 pounds on Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee during a Red Man tournament. The record stood until Dean Rojas broke it during the 2000-2001 season. He also finished seventh in the 1984 St. Johns Super Bass Tournament, and had top five finishes on the FLW Tour.Taylor still works as a guide on Lake Okeechobee and is a member of both the Ranger Boats and Mercury Motors pro staffs.When Taylor recently moved to The Villages, it was nice to have the Harris Chain of Lakes nearby, but it was actually golf that drew him to his new home."My sister has lived here for six years. I would come here to visit her and everything was so beautiful and so well maintained," Taylor said. "It was like one big country club, and that's what I liked. I was golf coach at Orange Park for 20 years and I thoroughly enjoy playing golf and being on the golf course." http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2005/06/09/sports/sports01.txt
Hoever do you find articles in obscure publications like this, Wolfman?!!
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Quote from: "DJdaHERDfan"Hey wolf, how's that russian bride search going? :oI got her, but dont tell my current wife about it. :P
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