Frederick Rankin Taylor

Professional Baseball Player, College Basketball Coach. After serving in the United States Army Air Force from 1943 to 1946, he played basketball at Ohio State University. He was the starting forward on the 1950 Big Ten Championship Team. He played professional baseball from 1950 to 1952 with the Washington Senators. In 1958, he came back to Ohio State as an assistant basketball coach. In 1950 he was named head basketball coach, and in 1960, he led the Buckeyes to the NCAA Championship. He took his team to three straight NCAA Final Fours; no coach had ever done that before. He was named coach of the year in 1961 and 1962 by both the United Press International and the United States Basketball Writers Association. In 1986 he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.