Hall of Fame
One of the most prolific scorers in the history of West Liberty men's basketball, Chuck Taylor was also an outstanding tennis player and is remembered as one of the most gifted all-around athletes ever to put on a WLSC uniform. Regionally-ranked as a tennis player throughout his collegiate career, Taylor was a 2-time NAIA All-American who scored a then-school record 1,981 points during his stellar career on the hilltop.
He poured in 50 of those points to lead West Liberty to a 96-86 victory against the College of Steubenville (now Franciscan University) on Jan. 28, 1970 – a single-game scoring record that was still on the WLU books more than a half-century later. Taylor also had a hand in one of the biggest upset wins in Hilltopper history, hitting two clutch jumpers in the final minute to lead West Liberty to a 61-58 victory against an unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Fairmont State squad in the semifinals of the 1971 West Virginia Conference Tournament.
Regarded as one of the deadliest shooters in the NAIA, Taylor led the nation in free throw shooting as a senior by draining a school-record 91.3 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe. At one point during the season, he converted 44 straight free throws. A second-team NAIA All-American as a junior, Taylor earned first-team All-America honors as a senior in 1972 and was a 10th-Round pick of the Chicago Bulls during the 1972 NBA Draft. At the time of his induction, Taylor was working as a high school teacher in Western Pennsylvania.
