Jim Taylor, 1931-2018

For people whose football fan experience doesn't go back to a time when the New England Patriots were a joke franchise, and who know the Green Bay Packers as the team of Aaron Rodgers, or maybe Brett Favre, it's difficult to imagine a time when they were the real "America's Team."

Jim Taylor was among the reasons why.

James Charles Taylor was born on September 20, 1935 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He starred for his hometown teams, Baton Rouge High School and Louisiana State University. In 1956 and 1957, he led the Southeastern Conference in scoring, but would soon see his fame eclipsed by fellow running back Billy Cannon, who would lead LSU to the 1958 National Championship and win the 1959 Heisman Trophy.

Nevertheless, LSU coach Paul Dietzel said, "With the ball under his arm, Jimmy Taylor was the best running back I've ever coached. He was just so versatile."

The Green Bay Packers selected him in the 2nd round of the 1958 NFL Draft. At 6 feet even and 215 pounds, he wasn't especially big by the standards of that era's running backs, but he was a tough one. In that same draft, the Packers chose guard Jerry Kramer and linebacker Ray Nitschke. Taylor and Nitschke often collided in practice, and Nitschke later said of Taylor, "In 15 years with the pros, he's one of the toughest men I ever played against -- and we were on the same team! He'd hurt you when you tackled him."

It was, in the short term, all for nought: 1958 would be the worst season in Packer history, as they went 1-12-1. As the great Red Smith wrote in his New York Herald Tribune column, "The Packers overwhelmed one opponent, underwhelmed twelve, and whelmed one."

For 1959, the Packers brought in a new head coach and general manager, Vince Lombardi. While Paul Hornung was flashy, Taylor just did the job. They were "Thunder and Lightning": Taylor was the workhorse, Hornung the showhorse.

Lombardi said, "Taylor may not be as big as some fullbacks, but he has balance and determination. He is hard to knock off his feet, and he fights for every yard." Hornung said, in a quote that may have been cleaned up for public consumption, "That son-of-a-gun is the toughest son-of-a-gun in the League. I've seen him run over guys 30 or 40 pounds bigger than he is, like that!" (He snapped his fingers.)

The Pack went 7-5, and in 1960 went 8-4, winning the NFL Western Division Championship. That got them into their 1st NFL Championship Game in 16 years, against the Philadelphia Eagles at Franklin Field. The Eagles were leading 17-13 as the clock wound down. There were 22 seconds left, and the Packers had no timeouts: There was time for maybe 2 more plays. Quarterback Bart Starr threw over the middle to Taylor, who caught the ball and carried it to the 10-yard line, before he was met by Chuck Bednarik, the rugged old linebacker known as Concrete Charlie, who slammed him down onto the hard frozen grass, and waited for the sound of the referee's gun, indicating that time had expired.

Taylor knew there could be time for 1 more play, and yelled, "Get off me, you son of a bitch!" Bednarik refused, until he heard the gun, and jumped up and down, yelling, "You can get up now, you son of a bitch! This fucking game is over!" It was Lombardi's 1st postseason game, and the only one he would ever lose.

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Lombardi was rough on his players at times, and worked them harder than they'd ever been worked before. But he also told them, "Those who stay will be champions." His players made an honest man of him.

At Fordham University, Lombardi was a guard on an offensive line so good, it was nicknamed "the Seven Blocks of Granite." One of their plays was a sweep: A guard (often Lombardi himself, who was small for a lineman even by that era's standards, but quick) would pull out of the line, and go to the far side (the left if he was on the right, or vice versa), and the running back would follow him.

The first play Lombardi taught the Packers in '59 training camp was an adaptation of this. He called it the Power Sweep: Both guards pulled, and would block. When both Kramer and Fred "Fuzzy" Thurston blocked for Taylor or Hornung, while center Jim Ringo and tackles Forrest Gregg and Bob Skoronski dug in, it was devastating to NFL defenses of the 1960s, most of which were tough, but not sophisticated.

The Packers went 11-3 in 1961, and Taylor led the NFL with 15 rushing touchdowns. On New Year's Eve, the Packers hosted the NFL Championship Game at the new City Stadium, replacing the old structure of that name; it would be renamed Lambeau Field upon Packers founder Curly Lambeau's death in 1965. If the 1967 Championship Game hadn't been cold enough to be known as the "Ice Bowl," or the Packers hadn't made it, this might have been the game that defined "Packer Weather": Not only was it cold, but, unlike the Ice Bowl, it snowed throughout. The New York Giants had no chance: The Packers beat them 37-0, in the biggest combined blowout and shutout in NFL or NFC Championship Games between 1940 and 2000.

The Packers nearly went undefeated in 1962, 13-1, the only blemish a stunning Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions at Tiger Stadium. Hornung was injured, so Taylor got more carries, and he gained 1,474 yards, leading the NFL. It was the only time in the 9 seasons that Jim Brown played that he didn't lead the League in rushing.

Taylor was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, and on the frozen grass of Yankee Stadium, had a very rough time in a Championship Game rematch with the Giants. All game long, he engaged in what we would now call trash talk with linebacker Sam Huff. A Huff tackle in the 1st quarter caused him to bite his tongue, and he spent the game swallowing blood. He needed 6 stitches for a cut on his elbow. He later said, "I never took a worse beating on a football field."

That's what he knew. What he didn't know was that he was sick: Two weeks later, he was diagnosed with hepatitis. And yet, he ran for 85 yards and scored the Packers' only touchdown in a 16-7 victory.

The 1963 season would be difficult. Hornung was suspended for the season for his admission of gambling. So Taylor had more carries, and as a result had more injuries, and the Packers did not reach the Championship Game. Nor did they in 1964, with Hornung back. But, both times, Taylor rushed for over 1,000 yards, making him the 1st NFL player to do that 5 straight seasons. Even Brown hadn't yet done it. He also appeared in his 5th and last Pro Bowl.

The Packers would be back in the Championship Game in 1965, against Brown and the defending NFL Champion Cleveland Browns, in what turned out to be Brown's last game. This time, the snow was cleared from Lambeau Field, but that left the playing surface really muddy and hard to run on. Still, Taylor ran for 96 yards, and Hornung for 105. The Packers won 23-12, and Taylor was named the game's most outstanding player. The prize was a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette.

Taylor's rushing yardage dropped in 1966, but he caught a career-high 41 passes. The Packers reached another Championship Game, beating the Dallas Cowboys 34-27 at the Cotton Bowl. It was the 1st time the Cowboys had gotten that far. On January 15, 1967, the Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the 1st AFL-NFL World Championship Game, later retroactively renamed Super Bowl I. Taylor led all players in rushing with 56 yards, scoring the 1st rushing touchdown in Super Bowl history on a Power Sweep. (The 1st of all Super Bowl touchdowns was a pass play from Starr to Carroll Dale.)

Taylor was about to turn 32, and felt the end was near. The expansion New Orleans Saints were being coached by Tom Fears, a Hall of Fame receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, and a former assistant to Lombardi. Having played out their Packer contracts, Taylor signed with the Saints so he could play one last season in his home State; while Hornung singed with them because he liked the idea of playing in America's best-known party town.

Hornung never played a down for the Saints, as his injuries led him to retire instead. Taylor had his lowest rushing yardage total in that 1967 season, although he caught 38 passes from the Saints' original starting quarterback, Gary Cuozzo. (A native of Glen Ridge, Essex County, New Jersey, Cuozzo was a former backup to Johnny Unitas on the Baltimore Colts, would back up Joe Kapp on the 1969 NFL Champion Minnesota Vikings, and returned to New Jersey to become a dentist in Middletown, Monmouth County.)

Cuozzo, Taylor, and Fears

Rather than accept being limited to special teams in 1968 training camp, he retired. He finished with 8,597 yards, then 2nd only to Brown; 225 catches for 1,756 yards; 83 touchdowns rushing (also then 2nd to Brown) and 10 more receiving.

He held the Packers' single-season records of 1,474 yards in a season in 1962, and 8,207 in a career. Those records stood until Ahman Green broke the former with 1,883 yards in 2003 (in 16 games, while Taylor had played in 14), and the latter in 2009, raising it to 8,322.

He had won 4 NFL Championships and the 1st Super Bowl. He would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (but, oddly, he has not yet been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame), the NFL's 1960s All-Decade Team, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. The Packers haven't retired his Number 31, but, oddly, given his limited performance with them, the Saints have. A street in Baton Rouge has been named Jim Taylor Drive.

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Still married to his LSU girlfriend, Dixie Grant, Jim Taylor ran a successful shipyard in New Orleans. In 1977, at age 41, he was still in good enough shape to win ABC's televised Superstars competition. In 1979, at 43, he finished 4th. In 1982, he reunited with Hornung to broadcast LSU games.

In 1989, he was diagnosed with hepatitis again, this time hepatitis C. By 2000, when he was 65, it was dormant, and he was jogging 5 miles a day. He died yesterday, October 13, 2018, at a hospital in Baton Rouge. He was 83, and no cause was disclosed, but, given 2 hepatitis diagnoses, it may have been liver-related.

With his death, there are now 15 surviving members of the 1961 NFL Champion Green Bay Packers, 56 years later: Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Willie Wood, Herb Adderley, Forrest Gregg, Willie Davis, Jerry Kramer, Boyd Dowler, Bob Skoronski, Gary Knafelc, John Roach, Tom Moore, Dale Hackbart, Nelson Toburen and Lee Folkens.

There are now 17 survivors from the 1962 NFL Champion Packers: Starr, Hornung, Wood, Adderley, Gregg, Davis, Kramer, Dowler, Skoronski, Knafelc, Roach, Moore, Toburen, Howie Williams, Ed Blaine, Ron Gassert and Gary Barnes.

There are now 21 survivors from the 1965 NFL Champion Packers: Starr, Hornung, Wood, Adderley, Gregg, Davis, Kramer, Dowler, Skoronski, Moore, Zeke Bratkowski, Tom Brown, Junior Coffey, Doug Hart, Bill Curry, Ken Bowman, Steve Wright, Bob Long, Marv Fleming, Carroll Dale and Dave Robinson.

There are now 27 survivors from the 1966 NFL Champion Packers: Starr, Hornung, Wood, Adderley, Gregg, Davis, Kramer, Dowler, Skoronski, Bratkowski, Brown, Hart, Curry, Bowman, Wright, Long, Fleming, Dale, Robinson, Red Mack, Jim Grabowski, Phil Vandersea, Donny Anderson, Dave Hathcock, Jim Weatherwax and Allen Brown (no relation to Tom).

And there are now 28 survivors from the 1967 NFL Champion Packers, of which Taylor (and Hornung) were not members, anyway: Starr, Wood, Adderley, Gregg, Davis, Kramer, Dowler, Skoronski, Bratkowski, both Browns, Hart, Bowman, Wright, Long, Fleming, Dale, Robinson, Grabowski, Anderson, Weatherwax, Don Horn, Chuck Mercein, Ben Wilson, John Rowser, Bob Hyland, Jim Flanigan and Dick Capp.

UPDATE: Bob Skoronski died on October 30, 2018. Bart Starr died on May 26, 2019. So now, the survivors of the Packers' Lombardi Era titlists are: 1961, 12; 1962, 14; 1965, 18; 1966, 24; and 1967, 25.

Taylor's final resting place is not publicly known.