MUSKEGON, Mich. — As you walk into Muskegon High School from 5th Street, the hallway outside Redmond-Potter Gymnasium is lined with trophies. Many of them were won by legendary Big Reds football coach Dave Taylor. Many others were won by his successors, who carried on a winning culture that Coach Taylor established.
Taylor's death was announced Monday, so 13 ON YOUR SIDE talked to three members of the Muskegon Big Reds family to learn what Coach Taylor meant to the community, as well as the players he coached at Muskegon, Mona Shores, Muskegon Heights and Fremont.
"You had to be tough. You to be fundamentally sound to play with Coach Taylor. That's what a Big Red is. We go out there. We're gonna hit you in the mouth. We're gonna let you know you you're in a football game. Win or lose, you're in a football game," said Muskegon junior varsity coach Jeff Brown, who played for one of Taylor's three state championship teams.
"He gave me a chance. To be an undersized kid at that time, I just appreciate the chance that he gave me being a 5-foot-5, 150-pound kid, to say 'Hey, I'm going to give you an opportunity to go play tight end for me,' and I appreciate that."
Caledonia athletic director Fred Townsend was another one of Taylor's former players.
"When I became a senior, we won the state title, and I happened to be the captain of the team. Everything he taught me was how to lead the team and make decisions if we wanted to be great," Townsend said.
But even more importantly than winning championships, Coach Taylor taught the young men in his program how to be winners in life.
"Dave was one of those individuals that influenced me and many others that you can get out of your environment. You can be successful. You can be great, but it's going to take a certain kind of discipline to do that," said Townsend, who noted that Coach Taylor did not cuss and he didn't want his players to either.
"Dave would explain to us, if you want to be disciplined in life, if you want to be able to control your mind and your mouth with words that come out and how to use them the right way, then you will be able to express yourself better."
Current Muskegon coach Shane Fairfield, who became the school's all-time wins leader in 2024, joined Coach Taylor's staff in 1998. He says most programs in Muskegon County today have someone on staff whose life was touched in some way by Coach Taylor.
"Everywhere you go, you're going to run into a Big Red from the 80s or the 90s, that will have a story about Coach Taylor, so his memory will live on. The tradition that he has helped build and continue to build will live on," Fairfield said.
"Some of his defensive calls and schemes and movements and stuff I still have implemented and use today."
Townsend says he will always be a Big Red at heart, and Coach Taylor plays a big role in his fondness for his hometown.
"I think we have to cherish what we've learned and continue the influence of how we can make a difference in other people's lives, and that's what Dave has done for me. And for a lot of our former Big Reds, that's going to stay with us the rest of our lives," he said.