J. Allen Taylor ’83 was a rare two-sport athlete at Franklin & Marshall College, excelling at guard for the Diplomat basketball team and as an infielder for the Diplomat baseball squad.
“I like to picture myself as a winner,” he once said during a basketball career that saw him amass 1,339 points, 546 field goals and 210 steals, which put him
12th, 10th and sixth on F&M’s all-time
lists, respectively.
Taylor was named Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the Year in 1979–80 and was an All-Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) South selection in 1981–82. As a senior in 1982–83, he was an All-ECAC South and All-District second-teamer in addition to being named F&M’s Outstanding Male Senior Athlete.
“He’s one of those people we have who creates things,” longtime basketball coach Glenn Robinson said during Taylor’s playing career. “When the going gets toughest, he plays the best basketball.”
Taylor, a Philadelphia native, averaged 13.9 points per game his first year for a club that went 18-7. He was second on the team in scoring. He also led the way in steals, something he would do the next two seasons as well.
As Robinson said in 1980, “I have no count of the number of times we’ll be in a tight game, either down a couple or leading a close game, and we’ll need a defensive stand. And he’ll just pick the right moment to shoot off his man and either break up a dribble or intercept a pass and take it coast-to-coast and lay it in.”
In 1980–81, the Diplomats won their first 16 games and were ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division III for a time. They finished 26-3 and captured the MAC South, with Taylor contributing 11 points per game and 63 steals, as well as two game-winning shots in the closing seconds.
The first was an eight-foot turnaround jumper against Philadelphia Textile, a highly regarded Division II opponent, in Taylor’s hometown. The second was a 25-foot heave against Muhlenberg—worth only two points at that time—allowing F&M to secure the MAC Southwest crown.
“I knew I couldn’t lose anything, so I took it,” he told the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal after the game. “I wasn’t hitting my shot, but it seemed to be on target. I’m just glad that Coach showed the confidence in me and let me stay in there at the end.”
The Diplomats slipped to 17-9 the following season in 1981–82, but Taylor established career highs in scoring (15.3 points per game) and steals (67). He was slowed by an ankle injury much of his senior year after getting off to a hot start; that start saw him score a career-high 27 points against Moravian, 25 against Philadelphia Textile and 22 against Clark. He finished the year averaging 13.7 points per game.
Taylor also excelled on the baseball diamond in a career highlighted by his junior season. That year, he hit .430 and compiled a .672 slugging percentage, both of which remain third on the respective F&M all-time lists, and was named First Team All-MAC. His biggest hit that year was a game-winning three-run homer in a 10-7 victory over Moravian, a shot described by The College Reporter as a 430-foot blast to center field.
In his senior year, Taylor served as a team captain, led the team with seven stolen bases, and was second among the Diplomats with 15 RBI.
Following that spring season, Taylor earned the Edward Garrigues Outstanding Senior Male Athlete award.
Taylor recalls enjoying the preseason of basketball and how everyone on the team was competitive and filled with optimism. He notes playing on a team that made it to No. 1 in the nation and being a teammate with his brother, F&M Trustee Art Taylor’80, for the first time since they were kids as highlights of his time at F&M.
After F&M, Taylor graduated from Temple University with a law degree and today is the owner-operator of J.A. Taylor Insurance Agency-Farmers in Columbia, Pa. Taylor has also stayed around the game of basketball, coaching at various levels, most recently at nearby J.P. McCaskey High School, where he has served as an assistant coach since 2000. He is married to Lisa Atchison-Taylor ’83, and together they have five children: Shian, Tatyana, Sarah, Danielle and Samuel.
