On January 24, 2002, William “Bill” Taylor died in Anacortes. He was one of Anacortes’s most successful basketball coaches in the history of the school.  As a coach & teacher, he was also a positive influence in so many students’ lives, including mine. He was a great coach and mentor to me. I’ve published a full account of my high school relationship with this great coach and his profound influence in my life: https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2013/01/william-taylor.html . In addition, I published a background of this unique man who was so important in guiding my life. https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2014/01/bill-taylor-anacortes-high-school-basketball-coach.html 

William H. Taylor was born March 11, 1922. He was 79 years of age when he died. He was a great natural athlete who played baseball and basketball for the University of Washington. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1949. He flew fighters in the Navy and eventually became my high school basketball and baseball coach in Anacortes. (That’s me, number 88, in the photograph)

Basketball really took over in Anacortes when Richard “Boots” Wooten arrived. Wooton had coached winning teams at Walla Walla, Sequim, and Mt Rainier when he arrived in Anacortes. He started the tradition of basketball madness in Anacortes. With him as the coach, basketball became a town obsession with winning teams that went to State Tournaments. The town became basketball enthusiastic, very much like the one portrayed in the movie Hoosiers about a high school team in Indiana, and the town’s devotion to basketball. In fact, our small gym was filled to overflowing with spectators standing along the out-of-bounds line on the floor and even attending team practice.. The town emptied when the team played away, with a parade of cars following the team bus to the out-of-town games. The town lived basketball. Bill Taylor became the new coach after Boots left. He had big shoes to fill and carried on the tradition of winning teams. As portrayed in the movie, Bill had fans try to tell him how to coach, and, as in the movie, he had to close team practice to their watching because of unwanted advice.

His record at Anacortes was winning 212 games and losing only 56 during his coaching from 1946 to 1960. Taylor’s teams went to the state tournaments. Two years in a row, his teams made appearances at the Washington State Basketball tournament, and both were against Lincoln of Seattle. The second year, both teams were undefeated, and the game was watched by the largest crowd in the history of Heck Edmundson Pavilion, with 3,000 people shut out wanting to get inside. Anacortes lost both years to Lincoln, but the Anacortes fans turned out in force to welcome them home anyway. His record of winning was so good that he was named to the High School Basketball Hall of Fame. He was an outstanding baseball coach at Anacortes. He had been a great baseball player at the University of Washington. He was also the moderator of the Anacortes High School Key Club. Bill taught the students honesty, civility, and character and set the example by his personal conduct.

When I graduated from high school, he wrote this in my annual:

“Paul, as been a wonderful experience watching you go up the ladder, boy! I don’t think it is facetious in my saying, “that you, without a doubt, have been the best student leader that I have seen at AHS”!! My only regret was the fact that you did not receive a faculty award, but don’t shed any tears over this. After all, we can’t all be students? If it is any consolation to you, I believe that you were the outstanding all-around senior four 1952 – 1953 girls, including. Don’t look back, son, look ahead. Good luck and success. Glad to have had you aboard, Bill Taylor.”

My life story involves a number of very significant encounters with different men and women who had an important role in my life. They include my 3rd-grade teacher, Mrs. Marshall, who used to reassure my parents that, in spite of my many disciplinary problems, I would be fine, and the pastor at the U of W Neman club. Fr. William Doole,y who inspired my spiritual growth and my relationship with attorney Gerry Spence, who promoted the growth of professional trial skills, along with others equally important. However, it was Bill Taylor who influenced my life at a critical turning point from the path I was on to a new one of solid values and determination to succeed.

This is in honor of William H. Taylor, a great coach, mentor to me and many other young men, and a man of great character. I  will always owe a debt to Bill for his positive influence on my life at a critical turning point in my life.