Brett Taylor – 2020

Brett Taylor was the heart and soul of the Dallas Harlequins for 15 years as a player, captain and coach (including many seasons as player-coach), a Western RFU selection and a Junior Eagle. He came to the club in 1983, played prop on the 1984 national championship team, and began captaining the team a season later. Beginning in 1988, he began coaching the team, and had a coaching role until 1998. He would return to the national championships in 1986, 1991, and 1992 as a player or player-coach and 1995 as a coach – with the ‘Quins finishing 3rd each time.

In the time he was active with the club, the Harlequins won 14 TRU championships in 15 years. Anyone who played with the club in that time can tell you that he was our universally acknowledged leader. The rest of the rugby world knew it too. The front row battles with the Denver Barbarians in the 80’s and early 90’s were fierce. When Eagle captain (and Denver Barbarian) Fred Paoli came to Dallas in 1991 to speak at the ‘Quins 20th anniversary banquet, he publicly stated that Brett Taylor was the glue that held us together as a team. He was an inspirational teammate who poured his heart and soul into the game, brought great success to the ‘Quins and great honor to rugby in Texas. Many young players who came up with the club in the 90’s are in his debt for teaching them the right way to go about things. While he did not hold a position with the TRU, he was a superb influence on the quality of rugby within the TRU and a towering figure in the game in the 80’s and 90’s.