Otis Taylor
Football
Worthing High School
Kansas City Chiefs
BiographyOtis Taylor (born August 11, 1942, in Houston, Texas) was an American college and professional American football player, for Prairie View A&M University and the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. Standing 6-foot-3 and weighing 215 pounds, Taylor possessed sure hands and served as a devastating upfield blocker, springing Chiefs running backs for many long runs.
Taylor was drafted by both the AFL (Chiefs) and NFL (Philadelphia Eagles) in 1965. After a famous "baby-sitting" incident, in which Taylor "escaped" from NFL scouts, he was signed for the Chiefs by their legendary scout Lloyd Wells. Taylor caught five touchdown passes during his rookie year, and followed that up in 1966 by leading the AFL with a 22.4 yd/catch average and finishing second in receiving yards (1,297). At season's end, he was voted 1st team All-AFL and was selected for the 1966 AFL All-Star team. Taylor led the AFL in receiving touchdowns in 1967 with 11 and led the NFL in receiving yards in 1971 with 1,110. He made the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl twice and in 1971 was named 1st team All-Pro by the Associated Press (AP), the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA) and Pro Football Weekly. The PFWA also named him 1st team All-Pro for the 1972 season. Taylor ranks second on the Chiefs' all-time list in receptions (410), receiving yards (7,306), receiving touchdowns (57) and 100-yard games (20).
Taylor combined with running back Robert Holmes for the longest reception in Chiefs history in 1969 when he caught a pass for 79 yards, then lateraled to Holmes, who carried it another 14 yards for a touchdown. However, Taylor's most memorable highlight from that season came in the fourth and final AFL-NFL World Championship Game on January 11, 1970, when he caught a short pass, turned upfield and stiff-armed his way to a 46-yard touchdown in the Chiefs 23-7 upset victory over the NFL's champion, the Minnesota Vikings, who, before Super Bowl IV, had been dubbed by some as "the greatest team in pro football history".
"Otis made my job easy," former Chiefs quarterback and Hall of Famer Len Dawson said. "If you got the pass to Otis, you knew he'd catch it."
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