Glades Day High School running back Kelvin Taylor recently broke Emmitt Smith's 25-year old Florida high school career rushing record. Taylor inherited serious football skills from his father, former Jacksonville Jaguars back Fred Taylor. The younger Taylor's 8975 yards ranks second all time nationally behind Sugar Land, Texas' Kenneth Hall. As great as Taylor's accomplishments are he's still far behind the Sugar Land Express. Everyone is.
Whenever Texas high school football is mentioned the name Kenneth Hall isn't far behind. He's the legend and his records will probably never be touched. From 1950-53, Hall rushed for 11,232 yards. As a single wing quarterback he also added 3,326 passing yards to that total. He rushed for over 3,000 yards in a season three times. In his senior season he had the insane total of 4,045 yards. His 32.9 points per game that final season is still the national record. He scored 899 points in his prep career. In a single game against Houston Lutheran, Hall ran for 520 yards on 11 carries. His records don't even seem real and they were set nearly sixty years ago. He led Sugar Land to three state titles in football, one in basketball and two in track and field.
Kenneth Hall chose to attend Texas A&M under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. He was a draft pick by the Baltimore Colts. Prior to being drafted he played for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He played for the Colts and the Chicago and St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL and the Houston Oilers of the AFL. Hall never achieved the level of success as a professional that he achieved in high school. How could he? He was still part of league championship teams in Baltimore and Houston.
Hall was enshrined in the National High School Hall of Fame in 1983. He also belongs to the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. He was honored in 1999 with the Kenneth Hall Trophy. Serving as the nation's highest high school football honor, the Kenneth Hall Trophy is presented annually to the most outstanding football player in the nation. Not only that, there's a Kenneth Hall Stadium, a 40-acre subdivision in Sugar Land named Hall Lakes, and Ken Hall Blvd. In a state that has produced running backs from Doak Walker to Earl Campbell to Adrian Peterson it is Kenneth Hall that stands above the rest.
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