Coaches

Paul Taylor

Year Inducted: 1990

Category: Coaches

Schools / Organizations: Dupo High School
Argenta-Oreana High School
VIT High School
Macomb High School

Biography:  Paul Taylor coached boys’ basketball st Dupo High School from 1953-63.  He also coached for 6 seasons (1963-69) at Argenta- Oreana High School.  Paul served a 2 year stint at VIT and 1 year as an assistant at Macomb High School after graduating from Millikin University.  At Dupo, his teams posted a 169-104 record that included championships in the East St. Louis Holiday Tournament in 1954; the Freeburg Holiday Tournament in 1957; and the Dupo Holiday Tournament in 1957.  Twice Dupo won IHSA Regional Titles.  At Argenta-Oreana, his teams were 83-69 which included a conference title and 2 IHSA District Championships.  One supporter of Taylor’s efforts at Dupo said, “I personally feel it was through the efforts of Coach Taylor that Dupo teams became contenders and a team to be reckoned with.”  That certainly would be in step with one of his strong contentions–“Competition makes the team, the team doesn’t make the competition.”  One of his former players said that “(Taylor) worked hard to inspire his players to do their best.  His players in turn worked hard for him and Dupo became a major opponenet for each team in our conference and on our schedule.”