PERTH AMBOY – Growing up in the city, Brian Taylor’s family knew that if he wasn’t home, he could likely be found on the basketball courts in Washington Park.
On Saturday the renovated grounds were dedicated to Taylor, who in 1968 led the Perth Amboy High School basketball team to a state championship by scoring 84 points and then played basketball for the University of Princeton, the American Basketball Association, and the National Basketball Association.
“The courts are amazing,” Taylor said.
Taylor, 70, who graduated from Perth Amboy High School in 1969, was joined by his family, including his sister, Brenda Hutchins, and brothers Bruce and Blake, both also prominent athletes in football and the basketball, and their families, as well as former teammates as they celebrated the event in a ceremony at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA.
Taylor said he owed much of his success to the shoulders of other people he stood on, especially his parents. He said his father Steve taught him discipline and humility. He said his mother Maude also taught him humility when she beat boys in races.
“Bruce was one of the fastest guys in the NFL and Blake was faster than Bruce and I’m known as BT Express and here’s mom beating us and she wasn’t an athlete, running with no shoes on at Delaney Homes is humiliating, ”he said.
He said he also stood on the shoulders of his wife, five children and their families, siblings and their families, all of his teammates, coaches and cousins.
“It’s not just my honor. It’s the honor of the city and my family and thank you for allowing me to stand on your shoulders,” Taylor said.
Taylor said he plans to continue working to serve the youth of Perth Amboy, with a mission to help students enter and excel in college.
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Mayor Helmin Caba called the three Taylor brothers “inspiration for our youth” and presented Brian Taylor with a key to the city.
Kenneth Ortiz, Director of Social Services and Recreation at Perth Amboy, said Brian Taylor brings over 40 years of high-level thinking, leadership and execution as an Ivy League graduate and former basketball star -professional ball.
Brian was honored as an All American high school student in football and basketball and a 12-letter award winner, including leading his Perth Amboy High School team to the State Basketball title of New Jersey in its freshman year and a finalist in its senior year, ”Ortiz said. .
Rozalia Czaban, a retired Perth Amboy High School principal who attended high school with Taylor, said she remembered the basketball team’s 1968 victory in Atlantic City as magical.
“I remember walking down Smith Street a few days later with him (Taylor), people cheering. It was an amazing time to be in high school and experience it,” said Czaban, who attended the game. . “The city, the school district, it was like you were one, you were just Amboy and you were so proud to be Perth Amboy. It was a unifying experience.”
Czaban said the Taylor brothers are legendary in Perth Amboy, with two in the high school Hall of Fame.
“You mention Perth Amboy sports and they are at the top of the list,” she said, noting Bruce Taylor, a former NFL player who received Rookie of the Year honors. “There are a lot of good athletes who have come through Perth Amboy but the Taylor brothers, they were just at the top of their game. They are as good as they can get.”
Ortiz said Taylor was offered more than 100 college scholarships and that although Princeton University did not offer athletic scholarships, he chose to attend the Ivy League school and he conducted his Princeton’s freshman basketball team to a 17-0 record. After his junior year in 1972, Taylor signed a professional basketball contract and became the American Basketball Association’s Rookie of the Year in the 1972-73 season.
He said Taylor played four seasons with the New York Nets and that Julius “Dr. J” Erving, won two ABA Championships and was elected to two All Star teams.
Herb “Mr. Net” Turetzky, who was the Nets’ official goalscorer for 55 years, recalled after the Nets won the last ABA Championship game in 1976, everyone was going crazy. Dressed in a bright red Nets blazer, shirt and tie, he joined in the team’s locker room celebration, where Taylor and another player grabbed him and he was pushed in the shower fully clothed with water pouring over him.
“I was so thrilled and all of a sudden I look down in front of me and it was Doc (Erving). He was just sitting on the floor in the shower cooling off, trying to stay away. of all the media and all the hype. He looked up and said, ‘Herb, I’m just chillin.’ And I think I’ve never had such an important moment in my athletic career as being in the shower with Julius Erving, “said Turetzky.
Erving sent a message for the dedication thanking Taylor for the championships and his leadership and called his former teammate a “Hall of Famer in my book.”
Ortiz said Taylor joined the Kansas City Kings in 1976, where he averaged 17 points in his debut season and was named to the NBA All Defensive team.
Taylor also played for the Denver Nuggets and San Diego Clippers before retiring in 1982.
After playing professional basketball for 10 years, Taylor returned to Princeton to complete his education, then formed a nonprofit youth organization with a focus on education called BT and Associates Inc., and has worked as a school administrator, educational consultant and sports ambassador.
Perth Amboy athletic director Nephtaly Cardona said he shared stories of the Taylor brothers’ hard work and persistence when speaking to today’s student-athletes.
“They put Perth Amboy on the map,” Cardona said, adding that the basketball jerseys of Brian and Blake Taylor, as the school’s all-time top scorers, have been removed and hung in the high school gymnasium.
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Suzanne Russell is a late-breaking reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, the courts and other chaos. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.