RIP - Jim Taylor

It has been my custom to wait until year-end to note these, but this one won't wait... 

Jim Taylor, Hall of Fame fullback for the Green Bay Packers from 1958-66 passed away on October 13, 2018 at age 83.

Taylor was Green Bay's 2nd round pick in 1958, and was the starting fullback from 1959-66.

He made 5 straight Pro Bowls (1960-64), led the league in rushing yards in 1962 with 1474 yards, (the only year between 1957 and 1965 that Jim Brown didn't win that title), and led the NFL in rushing TDs in '61 and '62. He was also the MVP in 1962.

His final season with the Packers culminated in a Super Bowl I victory. During that season he had salary scuffles with Vince Lombardi, who spitefully traded him to the expansion Saints in the off-season (much like how Lombardi dismissed all-pro center Jim Ringo to the lowly Eagles 3 years earlier).

Taylor retired after the 1967 season and was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 1976, the first of 12 Lombardi-era Packers in the Hall.

ESPN obituary

New York Times obituary
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