John Baxter Taylor Jr: He was the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal. He was a member of the gold medal-winning men's medley relay team at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.

He ran the third leg, racing the 400 meters. He followed William Hamilton and Nate Cartmell (fellow athletes from the University of Pennsylvania) and was followed by Mel Sheppard. His split for the final was 49.8 seconds.

In high school at Central High School, he ran the fastest high school quarter-miler in the country. He attended Brown Preparatory School with Olympic teammate Mel Sheppard. While at Brown Prep, Taylor was considered the best prep school quarter-miler in the United States.

He also was part of 1907 University of Pennsylvania track team, which won the ICAAAA trophy. He bested his personal time in 1907, and again was the ICAAAA quarter mile champion. Training under Michael Murphy, Taylor won the 440-yard race with a record of 48 4/5 seconds, which broke the intercollegiate record. He then was recruited by the Irish American Athletic Club.

Sadly, less than five months after returning from the Olympic Games in London, Taylor died of typhoid fever on 2 December 1908 at the age of 26. He is interred at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.