Former Chicago Bears All-Pro safety Roosevelt “Rosey” Taylor died Friday, the team announced. He was 82.
Taylor played 81/2 of his 12 seasons with the Bears and was a part of the 1963 NFL championship team that had one of the great defenses in league history. He also played 21/2 years with the 49ers after the Bears traded him in the middle of the 1969 season and finished his career in 1972 with the Redskins.
Taylor, who ranked No. 43 on the Tribune’s list of the top 100 players in Bears history last year, had 23 of his 32 career interceptions with the Bears. He had nine interceptions and three fumble recoveries in 1963, and his 12 takeaways are still tied for the single-season franchise record.
The 5-foot-11, 186-pound Taylor had three career pick-sixes, a fumble return for a touchdown and a punt return score, all with the Bears.
“Bear opponents have learned, to their dismay, that the odds somehow seem to favor Taylor in what often appears to be an even battle for the ball,” the Tribune’s Cooper Rollow wrote. “Several reasons have been cited for this edge — competitive instinct, eyesight, reflexes — but the key may be Taylor’s tremendous jumping ability.”
Taylor was born in New Orleans and played at Grambling State. He signed with the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 1961.
He was an All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in 1963 and also was named to the Pro Bowl in 1968. Taylor played in eight career playoff games, though only one was with the Bears, and ended his career by playing in Super Bowl VII in the Redskins’ 14-7 loss to the Dolphins.
Taylor and his wife, Claudia, had three children. His son, Brian, briefly played in the NFL, including five games for the Bears in 1989.
