Remembering Charley Taylor as Washington legend passes away at 80

It was New Years Eve, 1972. The team now known as the Washington Commanders was playing in the most important game in the history of all-time. At least that’s how it felt to a boy who had just celebrated his eleventh birthday.

Washington at that time was trying to regain a relevance in the NFL that had eluded them for three decades. They were trying to get back into championship contention. A new owner, new coaches, new players – they all arrived throughout the 1960s and brought excitement back to the nation’s capital.

And now, they were on the brink of going to the Super Bowl. The only thing that stood in their way was evil empire itself – the Dallas Cowboys. But Washington had some stars. They had Sonny Jurgensen and Larry Brown in the backfield.

And they had Charley Taylor at split end.

Everyone knew Taylor was among the best of them all, and yet somehow he still never seemed to get his due. He caught the ball as well as any receiver in the league. He ran with the ball as well as any running back. And at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he blocked as well as most linemen. Charley Taylor did it all.

So it was no surprise that in the biggest game the franchise had played since the 1940s, it was Charley Taylor who stood taller than anyone else. Taylor caught his first touchdown from Billy Kilmer in the second quarter – a 15-yarder that put Washington up 10-0.

Then with Dallas fighting tooth and nail to get back into the game, it was Taylor again, hauling in Kilmer’s 45-yard pass early in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Washington would add three more field goal before it was over and win in dominant fashion, 26-3.

Washington would go to its first Super Bowl.

That 45-yard touchdown pass, on which Taylor ran by backup cornerback Mark Washington, is the first play I actually remember as a fan of my team. The photo, with Washington diving helplessly at Taylor’s feet, is one of the iconic images in franchise history. For the game, Taylor finished with 7 catches for 146 yards and the only two touchdowns scored by either team. He accounted for more than 75% of Washington’s passing yards, almost outgaining the entire Cowboy offense singlehandedly.

Charley Taylor, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 80, was a true Washington legend.

When he arrived as first-round draft pick from Arizona State in 1964, Washington already had Bobby Mitchell. They were also getting a new quarterback in Sonny Jurgensen. Tight end Jerry Smith would arrive the following year. Those four men would lead one of the most exciting passing attacks the league had ever seen.

Taylor was a running back when he entered the league, and a very good one at that – good enough to win rookie-of-the-year in 1964. But new coach Otto Graham saw his potential as a receiver who could run and moved him to the outside the following year. Taylor didn’t exactly like the idea, but it’s hard to argue with the results. By the time he retired in 1977, Charley Taylor had caught more passes than any player in the history of the NFL. Canton would come calling very soon.

Fourteen months before his outstanding performance against the Cowboys in the 1972 NFC Championship game, Taylor was on his was to perhaps an even better game. In the sixth week of the ’71 season, Washington squared off against Kansas City in a battle of two unbeatens. The first half was a cakewalk for Washington. Taylor caught seven balls for 125 yards and two touchdowns – all before halftime. Washington led 17-6 at the break.

But Charley broke his ankle while scoring that second TD, and his season was over. At 30 years old, coming off a serious lower body injury, there were plenty of whispers that his career might be over as well. Certainly, he would not be the elite performer that had terrorized defenses throughout the second half of the 1960s.

But Charley Taylor was far from done. He wouldn’t just come back. Over the next four years, he would catch more than 200 passes for almost 3,000 yards. He would score 25 more touchdowns. In 1975, at the age of 34, he finished in the top ten in catches. Nobody else older than 30 was in the top 20. He was in the top 20 in yardage.

He finished his career a few years later, after returning from another serious injury. By the time he was done, in addition to being the NFL’s all-time leading receiver, Charley Taylor was an 8-time Pro Bowler, 5-time All Pro, and a member of the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1960s.

He would continue with the franchise as both a scout and a coach throughout the glory days of the 1980’s. As the receivers coach, he guided his successors – Art Monk, Gary Clark, Ricky Sanders – to championship glory.

I heard about Charley Taylor’s passing when I was in the middle of a little project choosing the greatest players in NFL history by the number they wore. It so happens, I had just finished writing up jersey numbers in the 40s. I couldn’t rank Taylor ahead of the best player to wear 42 – Ronnie Lott – but I had him in second place, just ahead of his contemporary – Miami’s Paul Warfield.

A little while later, as I was reading about his life and death, it did occur to me how silly such rankings are.

Charley Taylor gave thousands and thousands of Washington fans some of our greatest sports memories.  I remember watching John Riggins’ Super Bowl run and Darrell Green’s punt return against Chicago. Those are the kinds of things that strike a special chord in a fan’s psyche and never disappear.

For one eleven year kid, the first of those memories happened on New Years Eve, fifty years ago. I can still see it. And for that, I am grateful to have been able to watch Charley Taylor play football for my team.