Published July 25, 2021
By Phil Reyburn
The 1920s saw baseball as the country’s National Pastime, but
when the World Series ended, the sports minded turned to college football.
Track and field gathered its share of ink on the nation’s sports pages. Since
1888, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) annually held national track
championships. In 1921, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) held
its first men’s national championships. The 1920 Olympics saw the American Charley
Paddock win the gold medal in the 100 meters, and he was the quickly named “The
fastest man alive.”
Babe Ruth,
Jack Dempsey, and Knute Rockne were household names and a century later they
are still well-known historical figures to many Americans. In contrast, the
track stars of the 1920s were celebrities in their time, but their fame faded
away in the ensuing decades. F. Morgan Taylor falls into that category. In
October 1929, Quincy High School teacher and coach, Ray B. Watson, resigned “to
go into the insurance business.” The school district took Watson’s
recommendation and hired F. Morgan Taylor, a friend, and a teammate of Watson’s
on two Olympic teams.
Frederick
Morgan Taylor was born April 17, 1903, in Sioux City, Iowa. In high school he
was a national champion hurdler. At Grinnell College Taylor would become the
college’s most famous athlete, due to his dominance in track; and nearly a
century later, he still holds Grinnell’s record in the hurdles and the long
jump.
In 1924,
while still a student at Grinnell, Taylor finished first in U. S. Olympic
trials with what appeared to be a world record time of 52.6. It was accepted as
a national record, but not as a world record by the International Association
of Athletic Federations (IAAF). At the Summer Games in Paris, Taylor took the
gold medal and broke the tape, clocking the same time. However, having knocked
down one hurdle, the IAAF again failed to ratify the time.
Returning to
Grinnell in 1925 Taylor was the NCAA 220-yard low hurdles champion. Also, in
1925, he won his second 440-yard AAU hurdle title in a world best time of 53.8,
but this record too was invalidated. The IAAF did accept the 52 flat 400-meter
hurdle time Taylor ran at the 1928 U. S. Olympic trials in Philadelphia on July
4.
Coming into
the 1928 Olympics 400-meter hurdles, Morgan Taylor had captured Olympic gold in
1924, recently set the world record in the event, and was favored to repeat in
Amsterdam. But when the race was over, Taylor and fellow
American, Frank Cuhel, both broke the tape in 53.6, while David Burghley of
Great Britain was clocked at 53.4, taking the gold medal. The officials ruled
that Cuhel edged Taylor for second. The difference between a gold and bronze
medal was .2 of a second.
Two years later
four Americans set the record for the one-mile relay, the IAAF accepted the
time of 3 minutes 13.4 seconds as the world record. The relay was made up of
George Baird, Morgan Taylor, Ray Barbuti, and Emerson “Bud” Spencer. When the
record was recognized and reported locally May 21, 1930, Taylor told the
Herald
Whig
: “The event was run as a part of a huge relay meet held at Stamford
bridge [August 11, 1928], just outside London, England, following the 1928
Olympics.” He explained: “We were pitted against runners from Canada,
Australia, India and the British Isles and ran the event in 3:13 2-5.”
As a world
record holder and two-time Olympic medalist, Morgan Taylor was a celebrity in
his own right. He may have been an English teacher and tack coach in middle
America, but he was still a world-class athlete and continued to work out for
national meets and prepare for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. In the summer,
Taylor trained at the University of Illinois where the
Herald Whig
reported that he was “a member of the summer school coaching faculty.”
On June 5, 1932,
the
Herald Whig
stated: “F. Morgan Taylor, member of two Olympic track
teams, holder of the world record in the 400-meter hurdles and co-holder with
Lord Burghley of England of the Olympic mark in the same event, is headed for
more Olympic honors.”
For the
third time in eight years, F. Morgan Taylor made the U. S. Olympic team. The
two-time medalist was selected to captain the U.S. track and field team. And he
was further honored by being the U.S. flag bearer at the opening ceremonies. More
than a hundred thousand spectators filled the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch the
world’s greatest athletes’ parade around the track.
The July 17, 1932 edition of the
Herald
Whig
notified its readers of Taylor’s progress with this headline—-“F.
MORGAN TAYLOR, QUINCY OLYMPIC ENTRY, TO FINALS IN THE 400-METER HURDLES.”
Morgan Taylor and Burghley were the
favorites, with Taylor holding both the world (52.0) and Olympic (53.4)
records. Bob Tisdale of Ireland and Glenn Hardin of the United States were
considered strong contenders.
In the end, Tisdale took the gold
medal in a time of 51.8 with Hardin grabbing the silver in 52.0. Morgan Taylor
went home with the bronze and was also clocked at 52.0. The handheld stopwatch
was still the official time, but the automatic timing broke the times down this
way—Tisdale at 51.67; Hardin at 51.85; and Taylor at 51.96.
Morgan Taylor, in front of the
largest crowd he had ever run before, gave it his all and matched his best
time. The August 2
Herald Whig
headline said what all Quincyans thought,
“WELL DONE.” The paper continued: “F. MORGAN TAYLOR. Running for the third time
as a member of the United States Olympic track and field team, the Quincy High
school faculty member placed third in the 400-meter hurdles . . . Robert
Tisdale of Ireland won the event in less than the world record time.”
By mid-August Taylor had returned to
Quincy and his teaching duties, remaining in the Gem City until 1939 when he
took a position with Marshall Field & Company in Chicago.
F. Morgan Taylor died in 1975 at age
71.
Sources
“Athletics
at the 1924 Summer Olympics—Men’s 400 metres hurdles,”
WIKIPEDIA
.
“Athletics
at the 1928 Summer Olympics—Men’s 400 metres hurdles,”
WIKIPEDIA
.
“Athletics
at the 1932 Summer Olympics—Men’s 400 metres hurdles,”
WIKIPEDIA
.
“Brocksmith
Sets New Mark in Olympic Trials, F. Morgan Taylor Finished Second in Hurdles
Event,” Quincy
Herald Whig
,
June 26, 1932.
“F.
M. Taylor, New Quincy High School Track Coach, Hold World Hurdle Mark,” Quincy
Herald Whig,
November 3,1929.
“F.
M. Taylor To Be Coach Of Track Team,” Quincy
Herald Whig,
November 1,
1929.
F.
Morgan Taylor (1995)-Grinnell College Athletics Hall of Fame.
“F.
Morgan Taylor, Member of Q.H.S. Faculty, Shares Relay World Mark Just
Recognized,” Quincy
Herald Whig
, May 21, 1930.
“F.
Morgan Taylor, Quincy Olympic Entry, to Finals In The 400-Meter Hurdles,” Quincy
Herald Whig
, July 17, 1932.
“F.
Morgan Taylor to Defend His World Hurdle Record In Track Events This Summer,” Quincy
Herald Whig
, May 25, 1930.
Frederick
Morgan Taylor (1903-1975)-Find A Grave Memorial.
“Get
Places In Hurdles And In The Broad Jump—Q. H. S. Coach Third in
Hurdles—Redd Third in Broad Jump,” Quincy
Herald Whig
, August 1, 1932.
“Morgan
Taylor Is Employed in Chicago,” Quincy
Herald Whig
, July 20, 1947.
“Morgan
Taylor surges to 400m hurdle glory.”
Olympic News
, July 9, 1924.
“Morgan
Taylor To Compete In National Meet,” Quincy
Herald Whig
, May 16, 1930.
“Q.
H. S. coach Is Headed for the Olympic Games,” Quincy
Herald Whig
, June
5, 1932.
“QHS
Hall of Famer Taylor added to MVC list of legends,” Quincy
Herald Whig
,
September 5, 2020.
“Quincyan
Noses Out Lord David By Half A Foot” & “Well Done,” Quincy
Herald Whig
,
August 2, 1932.
“THIS
‘N THAT In Sports,” Quincy
Herald Whig,
November 3,1929.
USA
Track and Field – Hall of Fame – Frederick Morgan Taylor.
