Steve Taneyhill

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney got a text message on Steve Taneyhill’s passing Monday morning that “took my breath away.”

Many in the Altoona sports community felt the same way.

Taneyhill, one of the best athletes in Altoona Area High School history and a record-setting quarterback at South Carolina, passed away in his sleep from a long bout with cancer Sunday night at his home in Spartanburg, S.C. He was 52.

As an assistant at Clemson before he became the Tigers’ head coach, Swinney had become friendly with Taneyhill when the latter was coaching high school football for 10 years in South Carolina.

“I really liked Steve,” Swinney said at a press conference Monday. “Really good guy. Huge personality. Very good coach.”

Swinney recalled when he first met Taneyhill. It was 1991, and Taneyhill and parents, Art and Sue, were in Tuscaloosa for a visit to Alabama as Taneyhill had narrowed his college choices to the Tide and South Carolina.

“It was my junior year,” Swinney, who played receiver at Alabama, said. “We’re out there practicing in December, and here comes this guy — and we’re playing for (straight-laced) Gene Stallings — and he (Taneyhill) shows up, and he’s got that long hair and all that swag.”

Swinney laughed at the memory.

“We (players) were all in there, going, ‘We ain’t getting him,”’ he said. “And sure enough, we didn’t. And he goes to South Carolina.”

Taneyhill became the Gamecocks’ starter midway through his freshman season, a position he never relinquished.

South Carolina was 0-5 when he took over and finished the season at 5-6. Sports Illustrated named him the 1992 freshman of the year.

Taneyhill wound up making 40 career starts and left South Carolina as the school’s career leader in passing touchdowns (62) and pass completions (753). He is No. 2 in career passing yards with 8,782 and is tied for third all-time with 20 wins as the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback.

After his last season (1995), he was fourth in career yardage in SEC history.

“He became a legend at South Carolina,” Tyrone coach John Franco, who coached Taneyhill at Altoona and remained close over the years, said. “Alabama wanted him to redshirt as a freshman and told us he’d start as a sophomore. They said they needed him to win a national championship. But he flourished under Brad Scott (at SC). The fans loved him — and he delivered. He had a great junior and senior year, and he loved competing at that level.”

As his popularity grew, fans mocked his home-run swing after touchdowns, and special hats were sold in Columbia called “Taney-tails.”

“He brought a lot of joy to a lot of people in South Carolina,” Franco said.

After signing a free-agent contract and appearing in an exhibition game with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Taneyhill entered the coaching ranks, and his teams in South Carolina won five state titles — three at Class A Chesterfield and two while coaching eight-man football at Cambridge Academy.

He was inducted into the University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

“He was a phenomenal athlete — one of the best I’ve ever had the privilege of coaching,” Franco said.

Taneyhill earned all-state honors at Altoona in both football and basketball. He remains the school’s all-time scoring leader in basketball with 1,624 points (surpassing Doug West’s mark of 1,607) and, along with Danny Fortson and Brian Rehm, helped advance the Mountain Lions to the 1991 state title game.

“He had a reputation for being flamboyant, and that was more of a basketball characterization as opposed to football,” Franco said. “He just loved to compete — he wanted to have the pressure on him.”

Altoona had arranged to honor him at its last home football game last month, but Taneyhill’s health was declining.

“He would come up every year to go to a Steeler game and instead of meeting us in Pittsburgh, this year he was going to come here for a few days,” Val Mignogna, president of the Altoona Area School Board and one of Taneyhill’s closest friends, said. “We wanted to recognize him and put up a video.”

Mignogna spoke with Taneyhill on Saturday and called his passing “very unexpected.”

“He was sick, but he was expecting to rebound,” he said. “It’s surreal.”

On his last trip to Altoona, in August of 2024, Mignogna drove his friend and his wife, Tabatha, and their sons around to acquaint them with his hometown.

“We went up to his homestead, which is close to the Keith Athletic Field and went by the (Altoona) Fieldhouse and Mansion Park,” Mignogna said. “He was proud to show all the places that were part of his childhood and his athletic career.

“A lot of people know the brash, cocky side of Steve,” Mignogna added. “My family loved him. He was so much more than what you saw on the surface. He was the best friend you could have.”

Swinney can relate. When their mutual friend informed him, Swinney said, “I prayed for his wife this morning. Prayers to all the Taneyhill family and all the South Carolina people who loved him as a player because he’s one of the greats of this rivalry. I’m thankful I got to know him.”

Taneyhill is also survived by his father, Art, who coached the Altoona High girls basketball team to four PIAA titles, and his sister, Debbie, who played basketball and later coached it at George Mason. His mother, Susan, passed away in 2022.

According to the South Carolina athletics website, funeral arrangements are pending.