F. Morgan Taylor Jr.

Frederick Morgan Taylor Jr. was born on July 13, 1931, in Quincy, Illinois.{{cite web |url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-11-04/features/ct-met-taylor-obit-1105-20101104_1_titanium-clubs-morgan-buzz-taylor-pga-golf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131115555/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-11-04/features/ct-met-taylor-obit-1105-20101104_1_titanium-clubs-morgan-buzz-taylor-pga-golf |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2012 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |author=Ramirez, Margaret |date=November 4, 2010 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |title=F. Morgan "Buzz" Taylor Jr. Dies at 79}}{{cite web |url=http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=6598&Gender=M |title=F. Morgan Taylor Jr. |publisher=trackfield.brinkster.net |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |archive-date=October 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026161500/http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=6598&Gender=M |url-status=live }} His father, the elder F. Morgan Taylor, had won Olympic gold and bronze medals in the 400 m hurdles and broken the world record at the 1928 Olympic Trials;{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ta/morgan-taylor-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417115239/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ta/morgan-taylor-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |title=Morgan Taylor Bio, Stats and Results |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |accessdate=April 25, 2014}} he had also placed second to DeHart Hubbard in his son's future event, the long jump, at the 1925 NCAA Championships.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/tfn_pdfs/ncaa_history_pdfs/ncaamlj.pdf |magazine=Track & Field News |author=Hill, E. Garry |title=A History of the NCAA Championships |accessdate=April 25, 2014 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Taylor grew up in Illinois, first Quincy and later Evanston and Skokie in the Chicago area. He acquired a love for golf early on, becoming a caddie at the Evanston Golf Club at age 9 and later joining the greenkeeping crew.{{cite web|url=http://www.usga.org/news/2010/October/F--Morgan-%E2%80%9CBuzz%E2%80%9D-Taylor-Jr--Dies-At-79/ |title=F. Morgan "Buzz" Taylor Jr. Dies at 79 |author=Glenn, Rhonda |publisher=United States Golf Association |date=October 30, 2010 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505142919/http://www.usga.org/news/2010/October/F--Morgan-%E2%80%9CBuzz%E2%80%9D-Taylor-Jr--Dies-At-79/ |archivedate=May 5, 2014 }} He went to high school at Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois,{{cite news|url=http://thetelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=PE&date=20101102&category=news&lopenr=311029898&Ref=AR |author=Bassett, Kathie |title=Former Olin exec 'Buzz' Taylor dead at 79 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=November 2, 2010 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505145206/http://thetelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=PE&date=20101102&category=news&lopenr=311029898&Ref=AR |archivedate=May 5, 2014 }} where he was successful both academically and athletically.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-telegraph/2012/05-28/page-2 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=May 28, 2012 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |title=Three of a kind |author=Yakstis, Ande}}

Taylor was one of Western Military Academy's top athletes, captaining the track and field team; he also played football and basketball.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1949/05-12/page-3 |title=Trackmen Swamp Codasco, 107½–28½ |date=May 12, 1949 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |newspaper=Western Military Academy Shrapnel}} While the long jump (then usually called the "broad jump") was already his best event,{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1949/05-19/page-3 |title=Principia Edges Trackmen by a Fraction of a Point |date=May 19, 1949 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |newspaper=Western Military Academy Shrapnel |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072916/http://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1949/05-19/page-3 |url-status=live }} he competed in and won other events for his team, including the sprints, high jump and pole vault.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1949/05-05/page-3 |newspaper=Western Military Academy Shrapnel |date=May 5, 1949 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |title=Thinclads Take 7½ First Places But Lose Track Meet}} His best jump in 1949 of 22 ft {{frac|3|1|2}} in (6.79 m) ranked him among the top Illinois high schoolers that year, although it was nowhere close to the national leader, George Brown, who had jumped 25 ft {{frac|2|1|2}} in (7.68 m) to break Jesse Owens's national high school record from 1933.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/long-beach-press-telegram/1949-05-28/page-7 |newspaper=Long Beach Press-Telegram |date=May 28, 1949 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |title=In the Spotlight |author=Delano, Fred}}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/bakersfield-californian/1950-05-03/page-25 |title=Little Quotes |author=Little, Walt |date=May 3, 1950 |accessdate=April 25, 2014 |newspaper=Bakersfield Californian}} Taylor graduated from high school in 1949 and went to Princeton University on a scholarship. He played defensive back for a Princeton Tigers football team that went 26–1 over three seasons.

In 1952, his junior year at Princeton, Taylor reached the international top level as a long jumper. In early May he jumped 25 ft {{frac|2|3|4}} in (7.68 m) in a dual meet against Yale, a new meeting record and Princeton school record.{{cite news |url=http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d&d=CDS19520509.1.11&e=--------20--1-----all---- |newspaper=The Cornell Daily Sun |title=Big Red Tracksters to Engage Tigers at Princeton Tomorrow |date=May 9, 1952 |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |archive-date=May 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505143910/http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d&d=CDS19520509.1.11&e=--------20--1-----all---- |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1952/05-15/page-3 |date=May 15, 1952 |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |title=Buzz Taylor, 1949, Sets New Princeton Broad Jump Mark |newspaper=Western Military Academy Shrapnel}} Four weeks later he won the IC4A long jump championship, defeating the previous year's winner, Cornell's Meredith Gourdine.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/charleston-daily-mail/1952-06-01/page-13 |date=June 1, 1952 |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |newspaper=Charleston Daily Mail |title=Jaspers Win IC4A Honors |author=Fullerton, Hugh Jr.}} At the NCAA Championships in mid-June he was up against Brown, who had become the world's best jumper. In the last round Taylor jumped 25 ft {{frac|6|1|8}} in (7.77 m) to take the lead, but Brown responded with a leap of 25 ft {{frac|11|1|8}} in (7.90 m) and won.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/long-beach/long-beach-press-telegram/1952/06-18/page-17 |title=Bruins' Broad Jumper Brown Best Bet To Retain AAU Crown |author=Delano, Fred |date=June 18, 1952 |accessdate=May 2, 2014}} Taylor placed second, as his father had done in 1925; his new personal best was good enough to also place him second on the annual world list.

At the national championships Taylor only placed sixth with a jump of 23 ft 8 in (7.21 m),{{cite web |title=A History of the Results of the National Track & Field Championships of the USA From 1876 Through 2011 |author1=Mallon, Bill |author2=Buchanan, Ian |author3=Track & Field News |author3-link=Track & Field News |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/tafn-presults?list_id=36&sex_id=M&event_id=24 |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |work=Track & Field News |archive-date=December 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205102950/http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/tafn-presults?list_id=36&sex_id=M&event_id=24 |url-status=dead }} but he was still considered a favorite to quality for the American team for that summer's Olympic Games in Helsinki.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/tyrone/tyrone-daily-herald/1952/06-25/page-8 |date=June 25, 1952 |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |title=U.S. Olympic Hurdlers Seen Strongest in Track History |author=Panama, Charles A. |newspaper=Tyrone Daily Herald}} In a prediction poll of coaches ahead of the Olympic Trials he ranked second to Brown, ahead of Gourdine and Jerome Biffle; he was the only jumper other than Brown that any coach predicted to win.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/long-beach/long-beach-press-telegram/1952/06-26/page-27 |title=Stanfield and Moore are Unanimous Picks |author=Delano, Fred |newspaper=Long Beach Press-Telegram |date=June 26, 1952 |accessdate=May 2, 2014}}

The Olympic Trials were held in Los Angeles in late June, with the top three qualifying for the Olympic team.{{cite web |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/special-articles/1154 |format=PDF |title=The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field |author=Hymans, Richard |publisher=USA Track & Field; Track & Field News |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |archive-date=May 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505141740/http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/special-articles/1154 |url-status=dead }} The Trials long jump did not go according to the predictions. After five rounds Biffle was in the lead with 25 ft 2 in (7.67 m), followed by Gourdine; Taylor was in third place with 24 ft {{frac|11|1|2}} in (7.60 m) and the favorite, Brown, was set to not qualify. As at the NCAA meet, however, Brown came through in the last round, overtaking Taylor by two inches and pushing him out of the team.

Biffle and Gourdine went on to go one-two at the Olympics, while Brown failed to record a valid mark. Track & Field News ranked Taylor No. 4 in the world in its 1952 rankings, behind Brown, Biffle and Gourdine but ahead of all non-American jumpers.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/Rankings/16-mljrank.pdf |title=World Rankings – Men's Long Jump |magazine=Track & Field News |accessdate=May 2, 2014 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

In 1953 Taylor's best jump was 25 ft {{frac|5|8}} in (7.63 m), his winning mark at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2238&dat=19530428&id=hzsmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rP4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1400,5971922 |date=April 28, 1953 |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |title=Golden Bears Grab Five Titles in 59th Penn Relay Carnival |author=Lacy, Sam |newspaper=Washington Afro-American |archive-date=April 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430230816/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2238&dat=19530428&id=hzsmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rP4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1400,5971922 |url-status=live }} He repeated as IC4A champion, and Track & Field News again ranked him fourth in the world.

After graduating from Princeton in 1953 Taylor served in the U.S. Army for two years as a lieutenant. He married Barbara Olin, daughter of Olin Corporation executive Spencer T. Olin, in June 1954.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-evening-telegraph/1954/06-28/page-10 |title=Society... |date=June 28, 1954 |accessdate=April 26, 2014 |newspaper=Alton Evening Telegraph |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085101/http://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-evening-telegraph/1954/06-28/page-10 |url-status=live }} Taylor's career with his father-in-law's company started in 1955.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1968/05-02/ |date=May 2, 1968 |accessdate=April 26, 2014 |newspaper=Western Military Academy Shrapnel |title="Buzz" Taylor, '49, Promoted By Olin Mathieson Corp. |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062803/http://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1968/05-02/ |url-status=live }} He went through a number of managerial roles, eventually rising to be general manager of the Olin-owned Winchester recreation products group and a corporate vice president.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1971/03-22/page-3 |title=Morgan Taylor,'49, Elected V.P. Of Olin Corporation |newspaper=Western Military Academy Shrapnel |date=March 22, 1971 |accessdate=May 2, 2014 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072716/http://newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/alton/alton-western-military-academy-shrapnel/1971/03-22/page-3 |url-status=live }}

Taylor left Olin Corporation in 1974 and joined Victor Comptometer,{{cite magazine|url=http://www.cnnsi.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1016283/2/index.htm |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=June 28, 1999 |accessdate=April 26, 2014 |title=Devil's Advocate |author=Garrity, John |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505143956/http://www.cnnsi.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1016283/2/index.htm |archivedate=May 5, 2014 }} heading that company's recreation products side. In 1981 he bought AquaVac Systems, Inc., which manufactured robotic pool-cleaners; he remained its chairman and principal owner until his retirement.{{cite web |url=https://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2011/02/09/sections/memorials/1747/index.xml |title=F. Morgan Taylor Jr. '53 |work=Princeton Alumni Weekly |date=February 9, 2011 |accessdate=April 26, 2014}}

Taylor joined the United States Golf Association's Executive Committee in 1986. He served as the association's secretary, treasurer and vice president before being elected president in 1998.

Taylor was involved in a number of controversies over golf equipment. He was with Victor Comptometer in the 1970s when they introduced the Polara ball, which sought to reduce hooks and slices; the ball was banned by the USGA, leading to a lawsuit. He was a member of the USGA's implement and ball committee in the late 1980s when Karsten Solheim's square-groove clubs led to another controversy and lawsuit, which was eventually settled out of court.{{cite news |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19900318/1061547/court-to-decide-golf-club-groove-controversy |author=Litke, Jim |newspaper=The Seattle Times |date=March 18, 1990 |access-date=May 5, 2014 |title=Court To Decide Golf-Club Groove Controversy}} Fights over new technology also marked his presidency; he opposed new clubs that enabled longer shots, citing the increasing costs and slower play that would come with longer courses, as well as the game's traditions and integrity and a rule forbidding spring-like effects in clubs. Taylor had the support of other USGA officials, as well as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, but Wally Uihlein, a leading club manufacturer, called him an ideologist and a "loose cannon on the ramparts of golf".

Taylor was also a member of the Masters Tournament's rules committee. His son, James, won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Golf Championship in 1989.

Taylor died of lymphoma in his home at Jupiter Island, Florida on October 29, 2010. He was survived by his wife, four sons, three siblings and ten grandchildren.

{{Reflist|2}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, F. Morgan Jr.}}

Category:1931 births

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Sportspeople from Quincy, Illinois

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:American male long jumpers

Category:American football defensive backs

Category:American businesspeople

Category:American golf administrators

Category:20th-century American sportsmen