Unlike his teammates Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson, Taylor was narrowly able to reach the start of his quarter-final race, when their coach Stan Wright unknowingly used an outdated Olympic schedule and failed to deliver his athletes to the track in time.

As Taylor told it in a 2000 interview with the Tyler Morning Telegraph,[4] the three athletes and Wright had left the Olympic village for their quarter-final runs.

A frantic dash to the stadium ensued in a car driven by the ABC-TV employee Bill Norris.

Taylor also ran the second leg for the American 4 × 100 m relay team, which became Olympic champion and equaled the United States' own world record of 38.19.

[5] Taylor was voted by the experts at Track and Field News to be ranked among the best in the US and the world in the 100 meters sprint event from 1969 to 1972.