Knox College Athletics

The man to run the fastest 100-yard dash in the Siwash history came to Knox College from Virginia, Illinois and was an active person on and off the competitive fields. His father, Robert Taylor, graduated from Knox in 1893.
   
Henry Taylor earned four letters in track and captained the team as a senior. His blazing 9.6 seconds in the 100-yard dash propelled him to an undefeated record in the 100 and 200 yard dashes in his junior and senior seasons.
           
The Knox flash served his classmates as Senior Class Treasurer and was the member of the Glee Club, the K-Council, and the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. The Galesburg Register Mail described him as a quiet and reserved individual who happened to be one of the most remarkable athletes in Knox collegiate history.

After completing his studies at Knox, Henry joined the Los Angeles Athletic Club and trained under Coach Boyd Comstock for the 1932 Olympic Games. He supported himself by working at a bank competing in track meets across the country.
   
Taylor was not named to the 1932 Olympic team and he returned to Virginia work for his father’s bank, the People’s Bank of Virginia, until its sale in 1936. In 1938 Henry moved to Springfield where he married Springfield native, Elizabeth Bun. He went on to become a Director of the Springfield Marin Bank and a leading member is his community.
   
His association with Knox College never ended. He established a memorial scholarship fund in the name of his brother, Robert, Knox class of ’29, who was killed in a combat during World War II. Henry also served as a Knox trustee from 1949 to 1964.

Following Henry Taylor’s death in 1994, his wife Elizabeth established a scholarship at Knox in her husband’s name, similar to the one set up for his brother. His three daughters made a gift to the T. Fleming Fieldhouse campaign, the Henry Taylor sprint lanes.