Charles Albert Taylor was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at Stanford University from 1940 to 1942, returned as head football coach from 1951 to 1957, and served as the school's athletic director from 1963 to 1971. During his coaching tenure at Stanford, Taylor compiled a 40–29–2 record and led the Indians to the 1952 Rose Bowl his first season. That same season, at the age of 31, Taylor was named AFCA Coach of the Year, the youngest recipient of the award ever.

The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team is known as the Cardinal, adopted prior to the 1982 season. Stanford was known as the "Cardinal" for its first two decades of athletic competition, then more commonly as the "Cardinals" until 1930. The name was changed to the "Indians" from 1930 to January 1972, and back to the "Cardinals" from 1972 through 1981. A student vote in December 1975 to change the nickname to "Robber Barons" was not approved by administrators.