Introduction
Carl N. Taseff (September 28, 1928 – February 27, 2005) was an American football player and assistant coach.
College
Taseff played college football at John Carroll University and was the roommate of Don Shula. Taseff and Shula were teammates with the Browns (1951) and Colts (1953–56). Taseff later became a member of the coaching staff with Don Shula on the Dolphins (1970–1994). He has two daughters living in Baltimore, Maryland – Cindy Taseff Heath and Susan Taseff deMuth. He has two granddaughters: Celia Heath Bailey and Eleanor Crane deMuth; and one grandson Murray R. Perkins deMuth, Jr.
Pro Football playing career
Taseff was drafted in the twenty-second round of the 1951 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. After spending one season with the Browns, he went to the Baltimore Colts and played for them for nine seasons. While with the Colts he helped them win two NFL titles and played in the 1958 overtime title game against the New York Giants.
He set an NFL record with the Colts in 1959 by returning a blocked field goal 99 yards for a touchdown. He finished his professional playing career in 1962 with the American Football League's Buffalo Bills.
NFL Coaching career
Taseff was an assistant coach on the Detroit Lions in the mid-1960s. He then joined his old friend and head coach of the Miami Dolphins Don Shula as a defensive backs coach from 1970 to 1993.
- 1964 Boston Patriots (DB)
- 1965–1966 Detroit Lions (DB)
- 1970–1974 Miami Dolphins (RB)
- 1975–1982 Miami Dolphins (RB/ST)
- 1983–1992 Miami Dolphins (RB)
- 1993 Miami Dolphins (OA)
Death
A disease known as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, from which Taseff had been suffering for roughly six years, caused him to suffer from a weaker immune system. At the end of January 2005, Taseff caught the common cold that would eventually develop into pneumonia which would take his life on February 27, 2005.