Lionel Thomas Taylor (August 15, 1935 – August 6, 2025) was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a wide receiver, primarily with the Denver Broncos of American Football League (AFL). Taylor led the league in receptions for five of the first six years of the league's existence. The second player to lead a league in receptions for at least five seasons, Taylor is currently the last to do so. He was the third wide receiver to reach 500 receptions in pro football history. He was also a longtime assistant coach in the league, winning two Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2024, he was given the Award of Excellence by the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his work as an assistant.
Early life
Taylor was born on August 15, 1935, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was raised in Lorado, West Virginia, by his stepfather (a coal miner) and mother (a chef), J.C. and Bertha Glend. He attended the segregated Buffalo High School in Accoville, West Virginia, where he played three sports, starring in football and basketball (sometimes known as "Mr. 30" because of his scoring prowess in basketball). He was second-team All-State in football and basketball as a senior, graduating in 1953.
Taylor earned All-Frontier Conference wide receiver honors in 1955 and 1956. He was honorable mention All-America in 1956. Six NFL teams approached Taylor with offers in 1957. Gibson believed Taylor could have become a professional basketball player, especially with his good shooting and tough defense.
In the 1956 Frontier Conference championship track meet, Taylor came in first place in the long jump, second place in the discus, and third in the shot put.
Taylor was three years ahead of future NFL lineman Charlie Cowan at Buffalo High School. Like Taylor, Cowan first attended West Virginia State, but Cowan left the school. Returning home to West Virginia during Christmas break, Taylor spoke with Cowan and learned about his situation. Taylor then called coach Gibson and told Gibson he should bring Cowan to NMHU, which Gibson did. Taylor and Cowan played one year together at NMHU. Cowan graduated from NMHU in 1961, and then was an offensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 years.
Professional football
Chicago Bears
Taylor was not selected in the NFL draft. In 1958, the Chicago Bears invited him to try out for the team, and signed him to a contract in June 1958. He did not make the Bears, and played semipro football for a team in Bakersfield, California. He was on the team for eight games that season, but had no offensive statistics, and did not play in the games for the most part. Taylor was the first NMHU player in the NFL. He was a backup to receivers Harlon Hill and Jim Dooley, but did not play much. In a contemporaneous Bears roster for a November 1, 1959 game against the Los Angeles Rams, he is listed as playing end. A December 6, 1959 roster of players for a game between the Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers lists Taylor at halfback. He also played on offense in the 1960 preseason for the Bears. In a mid-August 1960 preseason game between the Bears and New York Giants, Taylor caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Zeke Bratkowski.
Some more recent articles on Taylor, published many decades after his playing career ended, state that he played his eight games with the Bears in 1959 as a linebacker, and that the Denver Broncos would later switch him to a receiver. This appears contrary to other sources, and to contemporaneous newspaper reports from 1959. In a November 27 game against the Buffalo Bills, Taylor had nine receptions for 199 yards. This included three touchdowns of 80, 24 and 35 yards over a span of 19 minutes. He averaged 102.9 receiving yards per game, second best in the AFL.
In 1961, he started all 14 games for the Broncos at wide receiver, and became the first AFL or NFL player to catch 100 passes in a season, while also leading the AFL in receptions. The only other player ever to have over 100 receptions in a 14-game season was Charley Hennigan for the Houston Oilers in 1964 (101). Since the NFL expanded to playing 16 or more regular season games in a season, in 1978, the feat has been accomplished many times.
He led the AFL again in 1962 with 77 receptions, and had 908 total receiving yards. He was named an AFL All-Star again, and was selected AP first-team All-AFL and UPI second-team All-AFL. In 1963, he led the AFL for a fourth consecutive year with 78 receptions. He had over 1,000 receiving yards for the third time (1,101 yards). He was tied for fourth most with 10 touchdown receptions. UPI named him second-team All-AFL in 1963.
Charley Hennigan led the AFL with 101 receptions in 1964, becoming the first person other than Taylor to lead the AFL in total receptions. Taylor tied for second with 76 receptions. He had 873 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. In 1965, he again led the AFL with 85 receptions (16 more than the second-place receiver). He had the third most receiving yards in the league (1,131 yards). He had six receiving touchdowns that year. The UPI named him first-team All-AFL, as did the AFL, AP, Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and The Sporting News.
In 1966, Taylor again started 14 games, but his reception total fell to 35, for 448 yards and one touchdown. He suffered a knee injury during training camp, but it was not considered serious at the time. During his six years with the Broncos, the team never had a winning season. In July 1967, the Broncos traded Taylor to the Oakland Raiders.
Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers
In September 1967, the Raiders put Taylor on the voluntary retired list. Raiders coach John Rauch reported that Taylor was having leg problems and volunteered to retire. At the time he was 30-years old and held the AFL all-time reception record (543). However, in 1967, he played an important part in Houston winning its division; and his play was cut short in 1968 when he underwent an appendectomy during the season. While with Houston, he worked with receivers coach Fran Polsfoot to develop younger receivers, such as Alvin Reed.
He worked as an assistant coach in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns.
He was the Rams' receivers coach from 1977 to 1979, and then their offensive coordinator from 1980 to 1981. He became the NFL's first, or one of the first, African American coordinators, when he became the Rams offensive coordinator. He reached his third Super Bowl as a coach in the 1979 season, with the Rams losing to the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV, 31–19. In 1980, the Rams were third in the NFL in points scored and second in total yards, but fell off considerably in 1981.
As offensive coordinator, he had an aggressive, big play, strategy. He stated: "'When a long pass is completed to a receiver with defensive guys nearby, people are going to call it lucky . . . But luck isn’t the point. The point is that by designing those plays and throwing the ball you’re giving yourself an opportunity to complete them. You’re giving yourself an opportunity to win with big plays. That’s aggressive football, and that’s what I believe in — an aggressive, intelligent offense.'" During his playing and coaching career, he mentored hundreds of players and coaches, and was highly respected for his qualities as a person and teacher. Taylor was the Broncos' team MVP in 1963, 1964 and 1965, and received the Third Down Trophy after each of those seasons. An original Bronco, Taylor was part of the team's inaugural Ring of Fame class in 1984, with Goose Gonsoulin, Floyd Little and Rich Jackson. Along with Lance Alworth, Charlie Hennigan and Sid Blanks, he shares the American Football League record for most receptions in one game with 13, doing so against the Oakland Raiders on November 29, 1964.
He had four seasons with over 1,000 yards receiving, and averaged 84.7 catches per year from 1960 to 1965, Taylor was the first receiver to have caught more than 90 passes in a single season, and he was also the first to do it twice. No receiver would lead the league in receptions over 90 in two separate seasons until Sterling Sharpe did so in 16-game seasons (1989, 1992, 1993).
In 2022, the Professional Football Researchers Association named Taylor to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2022. In 2001, he was inducted into the New Mexico Highlands University Athletics Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. In 1970, he was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, the first Bronco to be inducted.
Taylor had a peak from 1960 to 1965 that resulted in 508 receptions for 6,424 yards and 43 touchdowns in 82 games. Over his entire 128 game career, Mitchell had 521 receptions for 7,954 yards (53.7 yards per game) and 65 touchdowns;
In addition to being a receiver, however, during his 11 year Hall of Fame career, Mitchell rushed for 2,735 yards on 513 carries (5.3 yards per carry), with 18 rushing touchdowns; averaged 10.1 yards per return on 69 punt returns with three punt return touchdowns; and averaged 26.4 yards per return on 102 kickoff returns with another five return touchdowns. He finished his career with 10,689 yards from scrimmage, 14,078 all-purpose yards and 91 touchdowns.
AFL career statistics
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league
|-
| Bold
| Career high
|}
Regular season
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2"| Year
!rowspan="2"| Team
!colspan="2"| Games
!colspan="5"| Receiving
|-
! GP !! GS !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD
|-
! 1960 !! DEN
| 12 || 11 || style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"| 92 || 1,235 || 13.4 || 80 || 12
|-
! 1961 !! DEN
| 14 || 14 || style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"| 100 || 1,176 || 11.8 || 52 || 4
|-
! 1962 !! DEN
| 14 || 14 || style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"| 77 || 908 || 11.8 || 45 || 4
|-
! 1963 !! DEN
| 14 || 14 || style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"| 78 || 1,101 || 14.1 || 72 || 10
|-
! 1964 !! DEN
| 14 || 14 || 76 || 873 || 11.5 || 57 || 7
|-
! 1965 !! DEN
| 14 || 14 || style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"| 85 || 1,131 || 13.3 || 63 || 6
|-
! 1966 !! DEN
| 14 || 14 || 35 || 448 || 12.8 || 32 || 1
|-
! 1967 !! HOU
| 8 || 6 || 18 || 233 || 12.9 || 23 || 1
|-
! 1968 !! HOU
| 9 || 1 || 6 || 90 || 15.0 || 35 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"| !! 121 !! 102 !! 567 !! 7,195 !! 12.7 !! 80 !! 45
|}
Playoffs
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2"| Year
!rowspan="2"| Team
!colspan="2"| Games
!colspan="5"| Receiving
|-
! GP !! GS !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD
|-
! 1967 !! HOU
| 1 || 1 || 1 || 6 || 6.0 || 6 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"| !! 1 !! 1 !! 1 !! 6 !! 6.0 !! 6 !! 0
|}
Personal life
During his playing career, he earned a Master's degree in education. After retiring, he and his wife Lorencita (Arquero) Taylor, a native of Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico, made their home in Littleton, Colorado for a time, before returning to live in New Mexico.