Next stop for Ringgold grad Yancey Taylor: IUP Hall of Fame

Throughout his basketball career, everywhere he has been, Yancey Taylor's resume has looked hall of fame worthy.

During his career at Ringgold, from 1987-90, Taylor pretty much rewrote the school's storied record books as he appears in no less than a dozen categories and is the school's all-time leader in many, including points in a career (1,626), points in a season (700), assists in a career (437), three-pointers in a career (108) and steals in a season (107).

A rare freshman starter at that time for the Rams, the Donora native led Ringgold to the PIAA Quad A championship game.

After brief stints at two junior colleges, Potomac State and Missouri Valley College, he landed at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

At IUP, he was a three-time All-PSAC First Team selection, including being named Player of the Year once.

He cracked many of IUP's all-time lists, including third for foul shots made in a career (424), fourth in career assists (406), 10th in field goal percentage (53.6) and 17th in career scoring (1,257).

Then there was his seven-year career playing professionally overseas in Italy and Germany, where he was a somewhat of a celebrity playing for Krefeld and then Reclinghausen. He helped lead Krefeld to two league championships while at times averaging over 25 points per game.

So popular in Germany that he was featured in an issue of KO Journal, an international publication that hits a number of countries, including the United States.

After putting together efforts worthy of being in the hall of fame, that's exactly where Taylor will find himself in September when he is among the 15 members of the Class of 2013 to be inducted into the IUP Hall of Fame.

He will be inducted during festivities at the university on Sept. 14 that coincide with IUP's football game against Cheyney.

“It's something that I guess you hope for, but you never expect,” said Taylor after getting his notice from IUP. “I mean, when you make your college's hall of fame, it shows that you had to be pretty darn good over the length of your career. There is no bigger honor than going into your college's hall of fame. They told me I'm the first guy from my era there to go in. That's crazy.

“I've always enjoyed playing basketball and at the same time I always worked my butt off to be the best I could be. I always felt if you wanted something you had to do it yourself,” he said. “I never did like to lose, so everywhere I went, I expected to win and we usually did.”

Taylor credited several people with playing huge roles in his development over the years, including former Donora attorney Ray Amatangelo, former Ringgold basketball coach Phil Pergola and his brother, Tracy Taylor.

“Nobody, I mean nobody was a bigger supporter of me than my mom, Alma McDonald,” he said. “She died from cancer in 1993. She was my rock.”

Today, Taylor lives in Rostraver Township and is a sales rep for a New York-based company, Act Entertainment, which does commercial work for NFL players.

He also does a lot of traveling and rubs shoulders with many professional athletes and entertainers.

“I get around,” he said with a smile. “I never did like to sit still.”

But he will sit still long enough Sept. 14 to hear his name called to join IUP's Hall of Fame.

Jeff Oliver is a sports editor for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-684-2666 or joliver@tribweb.com.