Frederick Wellington "Cyclone" Taylor (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and civil servant. A cover-point and rover, he played professionally from 1906 to 1922, and is acknowledged as one of the first stars of the professional era of hockey. Taylor was recognized as one of the fastest skaters and most prolific scorers, winning five scoring championships in the PCHA. He won the Stanley Cup twice, with Ottawa in 1909 and Vancouver in 1915, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947.
Born and raised in Southern Ontario, Taylor moved to Manitoba in 1906 to continue his hockey career. He quickly departed to play in Houghton, Michigan, and spent two years in the International Hockey League, the first openly professional hockey league in the world. He returned to Canada in 1907 and joined the Ottawa Senators, spending two seasons with the team. During those years, Taylor was often spoken of in the same stature as baseball's Ty Cobb, and in 1909, when Taylor signed with the Renfrew Creamery Kings, the pair were the highest paid athletes in their respective sports. Taylor moved to Vancouver in 1912 to play for the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), where he played for the remainder of his career until 1922. In the 1918 Stanley Cup Final, Taylor scored 9 goals in the series, setting an NHL-era Stanley Cup Final record that remains unbroken.
Upon moving to Ottawa in 1907, Taylor was given a position within the federal Interior Department as an immigration clerk and remained an immigration official for the next several decades. In 1914, Taylor was the first Canadian official to board the Komagata Maru, which was involved in a major incident relating to Canadian immigration. Taylor ultimately became the Commissioner of Immigration for British Columbia and the Yukon, the highest position in the region.
In 1946, he was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services as an immigration officer, and he retired in 1950.
Early life
Frederick Wellington Taylor was born in Tara, Ontario, the second son and fourth of five children to Archie and Mary Taylor. The exact date of Taylor's birth is uncertain, though most sources give it as June 23, 1884. Archie, the son of Scottish immigrants, was a travelling salesman who sold farm equipment. Taylor was close to his mother, a devout Methodist, and took after her in that he never smoked, drank, or swore. Taylor claimed that he was named Frederick Wellington after a local veterinarian, a friend of his father. At the age of six, Taylor moved with his family to Listowel, a town south of Tara. The Taylor family was rather poor: Archie initially made around C$50–60 a month, a low wage for the era, especially for a family with five children. To help out, Taylor left school when he was 17 and started working in a local piano factory. His earnings of around $20 a month helped supplement his father's salary, which had risen to $75 monthly.
At age five, Taylor began skating on ponds near Tara and learned to play hockey when he moved to Listowel. He was given his first pair of skates and was taught by a local barber named Jack Riggs, who was known in the community for his speed skating. Taylor first joined an organized team, the Listowel Mintos, in 1897 when he was 13, and spent the next five years with them. Though initially a couple of years younger than the other players, Taylor was able to keep up with them, and by the time he was sixteen, he was one of the top players and leading scorers in the league. The Mintos joined the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), the governing body of hockey in Ontario, for the 1900–01 season. They entered a local league, winning the championship as Taylor played a major role. The team reached the provincial junior championship in 1904, losing in sudden-death overtime. This greatly enhanced Taylor's name across the province, and several teams were interested in having him join them.
In October 1903, Taylor was reportedly invited by Bill Hewitt, the secretary of the OHA, to play for the Toronto Marlboros. Happy with his life in Listowel, where he had family and a job, Taylor rejected the offer. This angered Hewitt, who had expected Taylor to accept his invitation and change cities. The OHA regulated player transfers between clubs, ostensibly to keep players from moving from team to team and to preserve the ideals of amateurism. As Taylor refused to join the Marlboros, he was not allowed to play anywhere else in Ontario. Hewitt thus banned Taylor from playing hockey in Ontario for the 1903–04 season. Taylor left Listowel in 1904 and tried to join a team in Thessalon, Ontario, but was not sanctioned to play for them. Rather than play anywhere else, he sat out the 1904–05 season.
Hockey career
Portage la Prairie and Portage Lakes (1906–1907)
Frustrated with sitting out a whole hockey season, Taylor looked for other options for the upcoming season. The OHA only had jurisdiction in Ontario and could not ban Taylor from joining teams elsewhere, so in early January 1906 he moved west to Manitoba and joined a team in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, for the 1905–06 season. As hockey was strictly amateur in Canada at the time, Taylor was offered room, board, and $25 a month in spending money to join the team. In his first game with Portage la Prairie, Taylor scored two goals, impressing his opponents with his skilled play. After one match against the Kenora Thistles, the top team in the league, Taylor was offered a chance to join them as they travelled east to challenge for the Stanley Cup, the championship trophy of Canadian hockey. While considering the offer, Taylor was approached by representatives from the Portage Lakes Hockey Club. A professional team based in Houghton, Michigan, Portage Lakes were members of the International Hockey League (IHL), the first openly professional hockey league. Offered US$400 to join the team, plus expenses, Taylor agreed. Taylor had previously played in Houghton in the 1902–03 season when he had been invited to join a few friends studying dentistry there to play a series of exhibition games against local teams.
In early February, having played four games for Portage la Prairie, Taylor left the team for Houghton. Playing cover-point (an early version of a defenceman), Taylor scored eleven goals in six games for Portage Lakes as the team won the 1906 IHL championship. The following season saw Taylor score 14 goals in 23 games as Portage Lakes repeated as league champions. Taylor recalled his time in the IHL, a rough and physical league, with fondness, saying that the "league was a wonderful testing and training ground, and I was a far better player for my experience there." He also found the atmosphere nice, as "there was a different feeling there with the sport seemingly so far from its home and us all down from Canada as sort of paid mercenaries."
Offering high salaries, the IHL brought in many of the top Canadian players, who were happy to play hockey for the first time in their careers (though some had been covertly paid in Canada). In 1907, the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the top league in Canada, decided to allow professional players. Many Canadian players took the opportunity to play in Canada and left the IHL, which folded that summer. Taylor returned to Listowel for the summer of 1907, playing lacrosse and entertaining offers to join various hockey teams for the upcoming season. Representatives from the Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Victorias, Montreal Wanderers, and Cobalt Silver Kings all met with Taylor. Cobalt's offer was the most interesting to Taylor largely due to their wealthy owner, rail-builder and mine-owner Michael John O'Brien, though he turned Cobalt down as the club did not offer enough money.
Ottawa Senators (1907–1909)
Taylor ended up signing with the Ottawa Senators, who played in the ECAHA (the league would drop the word "Amateur" in 1908 and become known as the ECHA). The Senators offered him $500 for the season, a high salary for the time but not extravagant. What attracted Taylor to Ottawa was that the club also promised him a job within the immigration branch of the federal Department of the Interior. Taylor was intrigued by the offer—the ability to have a permanent career was important. A position in the civil service promised job security for Taylor after his hockey career ended. He thus took up a position as a junior clerk for $35 a month.
Soon after arriving in Ottawa, Taylor received offers to leave the Senators and join other teams. The Ottawa Victorias, who played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League, a rival to the ECAHA, asked Taylor to play a two-game series against the Renfrew Creamery Kings of the local Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League, with the possibility of a full-season contract. Renfrew, owned by O'Brien, argued that Taylor was not allowed to play for the Victorias, and the Stanley Cup trustees confirmed he was not eligible. Instead, Renfrew made their proposal to Taylor for after the series ended: $1,500 for the season. They argued that he could leave the team because Taylor had not signed a contract with Ottawa. Taylor visited Renfrew, about from Ottawa, and initially agreed to sign there as he heard rumours that he was not wanted in Ottawa. However, representatives from the Senators met up with Taylor and confirmed the club did want him, which convinced him to return for the start of the season.
Taylor played at centre for the Senators in the first game of the season. Listed as being and , Taylor was of average size for a hockey player in the era. As one of the main forwards and one of the fastest players in hockey, he was frequently called for being offside due to being too quick for his linemates and the rules at the time forbidding any forward passing. It was decided then that he would move to cover-point for the rest of the season so that he would be further back on the ice and able to better utilize his speed. Later in the season, during a January 11, 1908, game against the Montreal Wanderers, the Earl Grey, Governor General of Canada, was reportedly in attendance. Afterward, he was allegedly overheard by Ottawa Free Press reporter Malcolm Brice saying, "That new No.4, Taylor, he's a cyclone if ever I saw one," a reference to Taylor's speed. Though previously referred to as both a "tornado" and a "whirlwind", the "Cyclone" stuck with Taylor for the rest of his career. Taylor performed well in his first season with Ottawa, scoring nine goals in eleven games and being named the best cover-point in the ECAHA. After the season ended, the Senators travelled to New York City for a series of exhibition matches against the Wanderers, during which Taylor garnered the most press attention with his skills.
At the start of the 1908–09 season, Taylor signed with the Pittsburgh Athletic Club of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League. However after three games there, the team released him and Fred Lake, accusing them of trying to undermine their management and intentionally losing a game to do so. Taylor considered offers from other teams but decided to return to Ottawa for the season, playing 11 games and scoring 9 goals. The Senators won the league championship and, as per the regulations of the era, were awarded the Stanley Cup as a result.
Renfrew Creamery Kings (1909–1912)