GEORGE W. TAYLOR –  Born 1931 in Redlands, California, was the fourth child of eleven born to John W. Taylor and Mary C. Colgan.  Six of which are presently living in California (Mary, Helen, Larry, Anna Marie, Paul and Tom who lives in North Carolina.

He was schooled at Sacred Heart Redlands Junior and High School, San Bernardino J.C., various colleges and ultimately graduated from Long Beach State in 1968 with a BS Degree in Production Management.

During his military career he served in the U.S. Navy from 1951 through 1954, going to a 44 week Navy Fire Control Technical School and Honorably Discharged as FT2.  He then worked for Hycon Mfg FMA Corporation, Librascope and spent his last 23 years working at Hughes Aircraft before retiring in December 1988 as a Manufacturer Project Manager.

George married Barbara Combs in 1953 and had four children (Teresa, Mark, Scot and David) with six grandchildren (Spenser, Madison, Savana, Fairest, Trenton and Tory).  Subsequently, he married Shirley Sorenson in 1973 with 3 stepchildren (Jon, Linda and Chris) and two grandchildren (Saundra and Nelson).

Having been active in sports all of his life, George likes camping, hiking, off roading, traveling, fishing and of course the last 29 years he has participated in Senior Softball and is presently involved in leagues on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with softball training drills (Skill Drills) on Monday and Fridays.  You can always find George on a ball diamond somewhere.  In our Manhattan Beach Senior League, he started as a pitcher for Ben Franks for many years before entering his Jets 60’s tournament team as a new team.  He and his teams started playing locally in the Hughes Aircraft leagues, then ventured out to Gardena, Carson, Lawndale. Norwalk, Long Beach and Torrance.

Through the years he has participated or managed many teams including Tournament teams, the most memorable being the Nifty Fifty’s, Duneden Grey Jays, Andy’s Rebar 55’s, Good Ole Boys, Cal Red, Cal White, Cal Blues, Mustangs 50’s, Redwood City, Cal Dolphins 55’s, Northern Cal Angels, Kap Vending 50’s, Cal Blues, D99 Tiodize 55’s, Fairway Ford Vipers, Viper 65’s and the Jets 60’s who throughout the years are now the present Socal Jets 80’s.  During the last 29 years George’s teams have either been 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd  majority of the time.  Since the start there have been hundreds of players that have played with or for him forming a wonderful family bond.  My fondest memories of George are  when my teams were playing in various cities 40 Plus recreational leagues, George would come strolling by asking if any of the players were 50 years old yet, trying to recruit the best local South Bay players for his tournament teams.

In 2004 George Taylor was honored and placed in the Softball Players Association (SPA) National Senior Softball Hall of Fame (NSSHF) for recognition of his many personal contributions, commitments and dedication to Senior Softball