The son of champion hurdler Morgan Taylor, he ranked fourth in the world in long jump in 1952 and 1953 and played defensive back for Princeton University's football team.
After graduating, he became a business executive with Olin Corporation and later Victor Comptometer and then chair and principal owner of AquaVac Systems.
[7] Taylor was one of Western Military Academy's top athletes, captaining the track and field team; he also played football and basketball.
[14][15] Four weeks later he won the IC4A long jump championship, defeating the previous year's winner, Cornell's Meredith Gourdine.
[2] At the national championships Taylor only placed sixth with a jump of 23 ft 8 in (7.21 m),[19] but he was still considered a favorite to quality for the American team for that summer's Olympic Games in Helsinki.
[25] He went through a number of managerial roles,[25] eventually rising to be general manager of the Olin-owned Winchester recreation products group and a corporate vice president.
[1][26] Taylor left Olin Corporation in 1974 and joined Victor Comptometer,[1][13] heading that company's recreation products side.
[13] 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.
[1][13] Taylor had the support of other USGA officials, as well as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus,[1][13] but Wally Uihlein, a leading club manufacturer, called him an ideologist and a "loose cannon on the ramparts of golf".