Success always followed Taylor

This is the first in a series of profiles about the inductees in the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2015. The Hall of Fame banquet will be June 19 at The Willow Room.

Wherever Yancey Taylor played basketball, success followed.

From the time he started playing in fifth grade in Donora until his professional playing days ended overseas, Taylor and his teams usually left a mark.

Taylor's stellar career made him part of the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2015.

“This induction means that (I) put in the hard work and it shows that I was blessed to be chosen by such great people to receive this induction,” Taylor said. “At the same time, my number one fan is in heaven watching over me, my mother.

“She was the rock of my life, and this honor means that you have done something well that people recognize.”

Taylor said a combination of things led to his success.

“It was my hard work and it was God that gave me the strength, power, and energy to become a good player,” he said.

At Ringgold High School, Taylor left a mark on the record book, placing in more than a dozen statistical categories. He still holds several school records a quarter century later.

He is the career leader in scoring (1,626 points), assists (427) and 3-pointers (108) and holds single-season marks for most points (700) and steals (107).

A four-year starter, Taylor led Phil Pergola's 1990 team to the WPIAL Class AAAA title with a 68-55 win over Mt. Lebanon.

A few weeks later, Taylor and his team almost pulled off a historic upset in the PIAA title game in Hershey against the heavily favored Glen Mills, but fell short, 76-74.

After transitory stints at a pair of junior colleges, Potomac State and Missouri Valley College, Taylor transferred to Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Versatile and capable of playing all five positions at IUP, Taylor earned all-conference first-team honors in 1993, 1994 and 1995. He was also honored as a second-team National Association of Basketball Coaches All-American in 1994 and 1995.

During the 1992-93 campaign, his first at IUP, Taylor helped the team reach the PSAC semifinals for the first time in seven years, averging 17.8 points per game.

The next year, he was selected as the 1994 PSAC Western Division Player of the Year after helping IUP finish 27-3 and make its first NCAA Division II tournament appearance.

The team opened with 24 straight wins — still a school record — and lost to Cal-State Bakersfield, the eventual national champion, in the quarterfinals. Taylor was the regional MVP on the way to the Elite Eight.

IUP went 29-2 the next season, was ranked number one for the first time in school history and won its first conference title in 21 years.

After winning another regional title, IUP defeated Central Missouri in the Elite Eight before losing to California-Riverside in the semifinals.

Taylor finished at IUP with 1,257 points while averaging 15.1 points per game, 406 assists and 424 made free throws.

The free throws rank third all-time in IUP history; the assists rank fourth; his 53.6 field goal percent ranks 10th and his scoring total is 17th, despite only playing three years.

Following his run at IUP, Taylor played professionally for seven years in Italy and Germany.

He earned local celebrity status while playing for the Krefeld Panthers of the German Basketball League and Recklinghausen. He led Krefeld to a pair of league championships while averaging 25 points per game with a single-game high of 42 points.

Taylor's stardom in Germany grew so big that he was featured in an issue of KO Journal, an international publication that reached several countries, including the United States.

Bill Hughes is a free lance writer.