C. Randy Taylor

Claude Randolph Taylor was an American football, basketball, and track and field coach and educator. He served as the head football coach at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tillotson College—now a part of Huston–Tillotson University—in Austin, Texas, Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virginia, and Kentucky State College for Negroes—now known as Kentucky State University—in Frankfort, Kentucky. Taylor was also the head basketball coach at Johnson C. Smith for one season, in 1928–29, tallying a mark of 6–11.

Early life and college
Taylor was a native of Harlem in New York City. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where starred in football and track. He then matriculated at Tufts College—now known as Tufts University—where he played football and basketball and ran track, before graduating in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science degree. As a senior, he was named the school's best all-around athlete.

Coaching and teaching career
In 1933, Taylor was hired as a science teacher at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. He was also appointed assistant football coach under head coach L. L. McGee. The following year, he was hired at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina as a biology instructor and assistant football coach under head football coach James Lytle.

Taylor served as the head football coach at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky for four seasons, from 1947 to 1950, compiling a record of 21–16–2. After the 1950 season, he was succeeded as head football coach by Big Bertha Edwards, who had assisted Taylor as backfield coach. Taylor remained the school's track coach.