Born in Collingwood, Ontario, and raised in Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan, he studied law and played collegiately at the University of Toronto before joining the Regina Rugby Club in 1914.
Despite the loss of an eye, Taylor returned to the Regina RC in 1919, quarterbacking the team to the Hugo Ross Trophy over Calgary.
[1] The home of the Roughriders, Park de Young, was renamed the now-defunct Taylor Field in his honour in 1947, and the Hugo Ross Trophy, awarded annually to the champions of the WIFU, was replaced with the N. J. Taylor Trophy in 1948.
Taylor was posthumously inducted to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
In 2006, the street directly in front of the now-defunct stadium's west entrance was renamed Piffles Taylor Way.