Covington Holmes graduate Charley Taylor spent most of his life playing, coaching baseball

By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

Charley Taylor, a standout pitcher at Holmes High School who went on to play and coach in the minor leagues, passed away Saturday night after a long battle with cancer.

Taylor, who lived in Erlanger, was a pitching coach in the Houston Astros minor league organization for 30 years. He was on the Lexington Legends coaching staff from 2001 through 2012 before retiring.

Dan O’Brien of Edgewood was on the scouting and player development staff for the Astros while Taylor was a minor league pitching coach. They worked together for 15 years and became good friends.

“I certainly had great respect for Charley on a professional basis,” O’Brien said. “Personally, you’re not going to find a better man, father, husband and everything else. He was top-notch all the way.”

Charley Taylor, a 1966 Holmes High School graduate, was a minor league pitcher and coach in the Houston Astros organization. (Legends Photo by Mary Lay)

After an exceptional senior season on the Holmes baseball team in 1966, Taylor played at Eastern Kentucky University. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in 1969 and spent six years pitching in the minor leagues. He made it to the Triple-A level in 1974 and retired as a player the following season.

Taylor worked in the Cincinnati Reds front office from 1977 to 1981 and then became a pitching coach in the Astros organizations from 1982 to 2012.

“Not only was he an outstanding teacher and instructor, more importantly was his relations with all the kids on the pitching staff,” O’Brien said. “There was never any doubt that Charley held their best interest at heart. It was an amazing thing to see him work his magic with the pitching staff. At the end of the season, they’d all improved and developed a very high level of respect for Charley.”

Taylor was a freshman pitcher on the 1963 Holmes baseball team that won the Kentucky state high school tournament. Three years later, he was the No. 1 pitcher in the Bulldogs’ rotation as a senior.

“I think he went undefeated that (senior) year,” said Jon Draud, who was the Holmes baseball coach at that time. “Charley was always a very dedicated kid to the game and he knew a lot about pitching. And, of course, he became a pitching coach.”

One of Taylor’s teammates at Holmes was Randy Marsh, who became a Major League Baseball umpire. They became friends while they were playing Knothole baseball in Covington.

“His mom was a very good Knothole coach,” Marsh said. “His dad was a police detective and his mom coached the team. Charley was a really good pitcher in Knothole, he really was, and then he went on to pitch for Holmes.”

Their paths crossed again several years later when Taylor was pitching and Marsh was umpiring in the minor leagues.

“He was playing in the Florida State League and I was umpiring,” Marsh said. “I remember being out in the field working the bases and he was pitching and I’d think back to where it all started for us at Holmes. Charley was a good man.”

Taylor was a member of the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame and the Holmes High School Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Lexington Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.

“Charley Taylor was well known to everyone associated with the Legends for his long tenure as pitching coach,” said Legends President/CEO Andy Shea. “And those who got to know him, including the players he worked with, Legends fans and Legends employees, will remember him as a gentleman who always had a kind word for everyone. It was a pleasure to be around Charley. He will be greatly missed.”