Larry Taylor Biography

St. Marys High (class of 1980) / Glenville State College (class of 1984)

 

Larry Taylor was born on January 31, 1961 in St. Marys, which is a city in Pleasants County, West Virginia. In his hometown of St. Marys, in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. There were only a couple thousand people in his entire county of Pleasants. His high school (St. Marys High School) had less than 400 total students in grades 9-12. The West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission (WVSSAC) grouped high schools based on the number of students within the school. Most sports within the state use the A, AA, AAA classification. They were placed into group “A”, which was the smallest school division.

Taylor attended St. Mary's HS from 1976 to 1980 where he was a track and cross country standout. He was coached by Jerry Rea, who guided St. Marys to the state track & field championship in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1982 and state runner-up showings in 1979, 1980 and 1983. The Blue Devils were regional champions in 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1983 and Little Kanawha Conference Champions (LKC) each year from 1977 to 1983. At one point, the SMHS team had 25 members and 17 of those members shared the last name Taylor.

During Taylor’s high school running career he helped lead the Blue Devils to four strong showings at the Class AA Boys West Virginia High School State Track & Field Championships, with two being team state champions, and the other two being team state runner-ups.

As a freshman in 1977, he was fifth in the two-mile run with a time of 10:23, while St. Mary's defeated runner-up Magnolia for the team title, 76-70.

As a sophomore 1978, he finished 3rd in the mile (4:35) and sixth in the two-mile (10:22), while St. Mary's defeated Greenbrier West 60-50 for the team championship.

As a junior in 1979, he finished second in the two-mile (9:51). St. Mary's lost to a great Mt. Hope team, 60-54.

As a senior, SMHS started a cross country team, which Rea mentored St. Marys to a runner-up showing in the state cross country meet in the fall of 1979. At that time, the meet competed as all-classes combined (AAA, AA, A).

Larry led SMHS to a Runner-up finish to Elkins (71-54) at the West Virginia State XC Championships with his 7th place individual finish, while earning All-State honors. Larry ran 16:26 on the famous old course at the Sandy Brae Golf Course in Clendenin, WV…it was a really tough and hilly course...there are legendary stories about the state meets that were held in Kanawha County at Cato Park and Sandy Brae. His teammates were slightly behind with a 9th place finish by junior Lee Haddox, an 11th place finish by freshman Steve Taylor, and 21st place finish by Sophomore Tom Hill. The team’s performance earned Coach Jerry Rea WV HS XC Coach of the Year honors as it was the first year SMHS ever had a XC team.   

Larry’s senior track season (1980), at the West Virginia High School State Track Meet, Taylor and his teammate Lee Haddox broke the school record and class AA record for the 3200-meter run in 9:21.2. Taylor ran anchor leg on the Blue Devil’s winning 4x800 relay team of (Steve Taylor, Tom Hill, Lee Haddox, Larry Taylor) with a time of 8:09.44. For the second year in a row, St. Marys was runner-up to Mt. Hope, 70-56. Several things to note here: First, 1980 was the first year in the new Laidley Field Stadium and the first year the WVSSAC went to meters. Second, three of the six placers in the 3200m (Larry, teammate Lee Haddox, and Steve Keenan of Gauley Bridge) would become teammates at Glenville.  Third, the 4X800 title team not only defeated a pair of great relay units of Hampshire and Magnolia, but was an iconic group of St. Mary's stars...Steve Taylor would go on to be a D-I star at WVU then Virginia Tech, Tommy Hill would have an amazing career at Cedarville, while Larry Taylor and Lee Haddox would help start an 80's dynasty at Glenville.

Larry Taylor went on to run at Glenville State College from 1980 to 1984, where he led the Pioneers to their first three cross country titles (‘81, ’82, ’83) and received the Pioneers First-Ever track title in 1984. He was a four-time ALL-Conference cross country runner and track star, while earning three-time League MVP in cross country and two-time MVP in track in the WVIAC.

In the fall of 1980, as a freshman at Glenville, Taylor captured the West Virginia Conference Meet individual cross country title by destroying the field of 50 finishers with a time of 28:15 over the five mile course. His nearest competitor was 47 seconds, or over 300 yards behind him when he crossed the finish line. For his outstanding performance, Taylor was designated to the all-conference team as “Runner of the Year” and advanced to national completion at Salina, Kansas. The Pioneers lost to West Liberty, but would win titles the next three years over not only West Liberty, but a great Fairmont team. The GSC group at that time included some big names - Billy Joe Belcher, Steve Keenan, Lee Haddox, Asenso Kuffour, PK Coon, Chris Keister, Davis Anonik, Steve Meckfessel, Steve Roberts, Pat Godfrey, Shawn Shockey.

In 1982, Taylor very nearly earned All-American status during his junior cross country season. Taylor placed 40th out of approximately 350 runners. His time on the five-mile course at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside was 26 minutes, 12 seconds, only 1:11 off the winning time. More importantly he was only 15 places and 20 seconds from the coveted All-American status, while his team would finish as high as 27th in the nation.

Taylor is especially remembered for his performance in the WVIAC Conference Track and Field events. Specifically one year at the Conference, he requested to run the 800-, 1500-, 5000-, and 10,000-meter events. The first day he won the 5,000, the second day, he won the 800-, 1500-, and 10,000-meter events. He went out extremely fast at the "bell lap" and the top 800-meter competitors could not catch him. He also went out hard and fast in the 10,000 and his top competitor couldn't catch him.

On the track, he won a total of 10 individual titles, including all four his senior year as Glenville finally broke through and defeated WV State. Taylor’s GSC best marks were 14:48 for the 5K and 32:53 for the 10K. His 10K is a little misleading in that in those days you did not have to run it during the year to be qualified to run a specific event at conference (if you were qualified in one event, you could run in anything), so many people just ran the 10K at conference in what was often a tactical affair if many of the athletes were running two or three events.  

In 1997, at the USATF Masters Indoor National Track & Field Championships in Boston, MA, Larry and his three first cousins (Mike, Cliff, and Steve), finished runner-up in the 30-34 age division in the 4x800M Relay. Mike and Cliff were over 40 years of age, but their relay team had to race in the age group of the youngest relay member. If Steve would have been one more year older, they would have won the 35-39 division easily.

In 2003, Taylor in his late 30’s, took part in the Relay Across WV Against Cancer, which was held from Friday, August 1, 2003 until Sunday, August 3, 2003. The event showcased a large set of the sport's stars, both young and old, which included members of the great Glenville distance running dynasty of the 80's. Those who participated in the relay included: Steve Keenan, Jesse Skiles, Pat Godfrey, Lindsay Wimer, Woody Snoberger, Sherry Smith, Megan Docherty, Scott Gemberling, Pat Docherty, Karen Wigal, Stephanie Hatfield, Carl Hatfield, Dan Erenrich, Leah Erenrich, Sarah Rosier, Nicole Tingler, Mikey Guinn, Rachel Cipolat, Erin Cipolat, Micki Skiles, Mikey Cox, Steven Nutter, Randy Nutter, Craig McDougal, Ben Miller, Josh Wagner, Joe Chambers, Adam Banford, Andrew Benford, and Ambria Chambers. In all, the relay covered 231.2 miles in 27 hours, 49.01 seconds.

Mikey Cox and Larry Taylor had both ran at Saturday night's Debbie Green Memorial Run. Taylor showed no signs of soreness from his Saturday night performance of 16:43. On Sunday, he ran 15 miles for his leg of the relay in 1 hour, 36 minutes.

Taylor enjoyed a very successful road-racing career up until three years ago, many times participating in events that were 15 miles long. He still runs competitively.

On May 16th, 2015, Taylor was inducted into the Glenville State College Curtis Elam Athletic Hall of Fame. He joined several other former GSC track greats in that Hall - Bubby Dent (of DuPont), Kent Pilant (of Magnolia), Chup Robinson (of Magnolia) and Doc Stanley (of DuPont).

Taylor and his wife, Sandra (Kincaid) Taylor have been married since August 20, 1983 and reside in Fayetteville, West Virginia where he works at Fayetteville Awning and Glass, Inc. They have two daughters: Jessica, who has won 16 state cross country and track titles in the 800-, 1600-, 3200-, and 5000-meter categories; and Abi, a senior at Fayette County High School.

Larry is the cousin of West Virginia distance great, Steve Taylor.