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Biography: Jim Taylor

Jim (James Edward Taylor) Taylor was born in Florence, Alabama, on January 9, 1950. He is the oldest son of Robert and Margaret Taylor of Florence. His father is a retired high-school physics and chemistry teacher, his mother is a retired high-school english and typing teacher. His younger brother Jack, born March 15, 1956, is a systems analyst for a computer firm in Birmingham, Alabama. Jim Taylor began ice skating at the Birmingham FSC, Inc., Alpine Ice Arena on Oxmoor Road when he was ten years old and was hooked instantly. His parents encouraged his interest, especially after he began winning open competitions throughout the Southeastern United States.

Through constant practice throughout his teens, and under the tutledge of a local coach, the late Casey Dusic, he became an acclaimed figure skater and won a gold medal at the age of 24 at the 1974 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships. Subsequent injuries (strained and sprained ankles, torn anterior curicate ligament in left knee) prevented him from making the U.S. Olympic Team, but he did serve as an advisor to the team that competed in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

Although these were the two pinnacles of his ice skating career, much happened to Jim Taylor in the six year interim. During this time he also made a considerable personal fortune by appearing in television and print ads for Jockey mens wear, Wheaties breakfast cereal, and Colgate shaving cream.

Through a mutual friend he met Sandy Ross, a former ballerina and dancer. Sandy and Jim were married on June 5, 1974, in Florence, Alabama. They then moved to Oxford, Mississippi, where Sandy took a job in the dance and theatre department of The University of Mississippi, and Jim worked from home as a venture capitalist, adding to his family fortune through a number of shrewd real estate transactions. Jim and Sandy had their first child, a boy, Shane, on April 4, 1975. Their second child, a boy, Dale, was born on February 9, 1978. Their third child Crystal, a girl, was born on January 28, 1979. Jim Taylor still travels on the weekend to The Mall of Memphis, in Memphis, Tennessee, to teach a figure skating class to the public at large on Saturday mornings. In his spare time, he enjoys other athletics, especially college sports played at The University of Mississippi such as volleyball, baseball, and tennis.