Billy Taylor: An All-American In Prison

In November 1971, Billy Taylor was proceeding on a course toward athletic, academic, and financial success, like so many had done before him.

The setting was Ann Arbor's Michigan Stadium, and the cast of characters included a number of professional football scouts, who had assembled there to watch Taylor's final regular-season game.

Perhaps his finest collegiate moment occured that afternoon while 104,016 frenzied fans watched the Michigan Wolverines risk their perfect record against the always tough Ohio State Buckeyes.

With Michigan on the short end of a 7-3 score, and barely more than two minutes remaining to play, the crowd, along with a national television audience, sensed a major upset. There were 21 yards between the vaunted Wolverine offensive unit and Ohio State's goal line-something Michigan had not crossed all afternoon.

While the bi-partisan crowd screamed with anticipation, reserve quarterback Larry Cipa took the snap from center and pitchedout to tailback Taylor, who headed toward the west sidelines. A classic block by Fullback Fritz Seyferth allowed "B.T." a small opening in the Buckeye defense. And in storybook fashion, Taylor scampered into the Buckeye endzone-giving the Wolverines a 10-7 victory, an undefeated season, and a trip to the Rose Bowl.

For Taylor, it meant the team's Most Valuable Player Award, a berth on many All-America squads, and an opportunity to reach further stardom in the National Football League.

Today, just four years later, Taylor's future lies in the hands of a federal parole board as the Michigan graduate waits in a Wisconsin prison. B.T. pleaded guilty in a Cleveland federal court last April 14 to a charge of armed robbery stemming from a January 17 holdup of a bank in his hometown of Barberton, Ohio.

Taylor, 27, was sentenced to a prison term of eight year, June 4, but U.S. District Judge Leroy J. Conte Jr. gave him until July 1 to clear up his personal affairs and surrender to a U.S. Marshal.

After graduating from Michigan in 1972, Taylor began his professional career with the St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL. But despite holding the career rushing record at Michigan (Taylor's 3072 yards gained in three seasons eclipsed the mark of 2440 set by Ron Johnson from 1966 thru 1968), Taylor was criticized for either being too slow for a halfback or being toosmall for a fulIback.

After bouncing around the NFL, Taylor tried his luck in the Canadian Football League before winding up with the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League in the summer of 1974.

A badly pulled hamstring muscle, plus the fact that Memphis had the best rushing duo in the league (J.J. Jennings and Willie Spencer), necessitated Taylor's being traded to the Chicago Fire, a team which disbanded before the final game of the 1974 season.

With the league itself in jeopardy (it finally collapsed last faII), Taylor's pro football career was all but over, as there were simply no more leagues in which to obtain a fresh start.

Temporarily a beaten man, Taylor somehow wound up back in hometown Barberton, at the wrong place and the wrong time.

A break for Taylor in his parole battle came just one month after his arrest. With his up-and-down pro football career behind him, Taylor was hired by the Hurley Medical Center in Flint as an assistant to the Personnel Director under the Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA).

"I worked at Hurley until the day before I reported here for incarceration," writes Taylor, who is waiting for a reply from U.S. Parole Officer Maurice Sigler. "A decision could come any day, since they've had my appeal in Washington, D.C. since November 21 , 1975," he continues. "But there is no time limit for a reply, so I have to just wait."

"We would like Billy back on our staff as quickly as possible," declares Mrs. Doris Petross, Taylor's immediate supervisor at Hurley. But CETA, the program under which Taylor was hired, is ing phased out, and Petross hopes Taylor s released well before the April 30 cancellation date.

If he isn't that lucky, Petross assures that there are enough people in the Flint community concerned and impressed with Taylor that a job will certainly be found for him.

The proper supervision of Taylor's parole in the community has already been established, so all that's left is Officer Sigler's decision.

Another possibility could be Taylor's transfer to Milan Federal Correctional Institution, where work-study opportunities exist. He's planning to enter the University of Michigan's Graduate School of Public Health this fall, so even the transfer could help considerably. "I believe all things happen for a purpose," Taylor relates, "and as a result of just being still I've gained much peace of mind and understanding, and have been found by God - I feel the humiliation of a tragic mistake, while being more despondent than I can put to words, was/will be worth all the humiliation if my stay here is not prolonged!"

Joel Greer, who lives in Detroit, has written about sports for the Michigan Daily and the Ann Arbor News.