Biography
The biography of the famous Soviet hockey player, football player and coach Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov is so fascinating, every line is literally imbued with love for life and his chosen profession, that you involuntarily begin to experience a genuine interest in sports. A hardworking and sincerely dedicated person - this is how one can characterize a great athlete.
The future famous athlete was born on December 10, 1918 in Moscow. The boy was barely nine when his father died. In connection with this terrible tragedy, Anatoly had to grow up quite early, taking on certain family responsibilities. For example, caring for his younger brother fell on the shoulders of the future legend.
Anatoly Tarasov in his youth
Brothers Anatoly and Yuri from early childhood sought to spend their free time with maximum health benefits. Admission to the “Young Dynamo” sports school became a happy springboard on the path to Tarasov’s future achievements. The manifestation of the legend’s leadership qualities was not long in coming, and he quickly began to wear the captain’s armband of the Dynamo youth hockey team, and after a short period of time, the Moscow national team.
After studying for 7 years at a comprehensive school, Anatoly Vladimirovich became a student at a vocational school, after which he received the qualification of a mechanic. On the recommendation of the leadership of his first sports alma mater, Tarasov “sat down at the desk” of the Higher School of Coaches. This happened in 1937.
Young Anatoly Tarasov and Vsevolod Bobrov
Before the onset of the war, Tarasov loved to kick the ball. In 1939, the athlete, together with the Dynamo team from Odessa, joined Group A. Soon, in 1941, he temporarily exchanged football for the front. Tarasov returned home as a senior major.
In those days, Anatoly Tarasov played with Vsevolod Bobrov. It was said about them that they were two geniuses, whom the country's political regime and their own ambitions placed in conditions of a tough, long-term struggle. They even made a documentary about them, “Anatoly Tarasov. Vsevolod Bobrov. The Great Confrontation."
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Anatoly Tarasov in his youth
Anatoly Tarasov was born in Moscow. He had a younger brother, Yuri, whom he had to actively look after from an early age. Because father Vladimir Tarasov died when Anatoly was only 9 years old.
After graduating from school, Anatoly enters college, where he receives a qualification as a mechanic. But he carried on his love for sports throughout his life. While still at sports school, he was captain of the hockey team.
Therefore, everyone strongly advised him to enter the Higher School of Coaches, which Tarasov did. At the same time, he continued to play his favorite hockey.
He played 100 matches for CSKA, scoring 106 goals. At the same time, he was part of the coaching staff of his team. Having received the title of Honored Coach of the USSR, a year later he became the head coach of the Soviet Union national team.
But after a few years he withdrew from this position.
The reason for leaving was that he did not carry out the orders of the authorities of the Soviet state. Tarasov was required to allow his team to play with the same score in the match with Czechoslovakia, which would provide it with an honorary silver medal. The final score was 5:2, the victory was ours, and he was fired.
“It’s a pity for people who are indifferent to sports. They seem to be making their lives very poor. What about me... They’ll say: start your life again - I’ll choose the path of a coach again. Because it’s a damn interesting profession—to educate people who are strong in both body and spirit.”
Everyone knew about Tarasov’s integrity, toughness and discipline.
“Tarasov led the training with enthusiasm, fired up the guys, was strict with those who were lazy, and came up with interesting exercises. It demanded a lot, but we got excited and worked conscientiously. Sometimes one of the guys wanted to trick Tarasov, but everything ended in his favor,” recalled CSKA and national team captain Boris Mikhailov.
With his wife and daughter Tatyana,
Anatoly Tarasov was a difficult person. Therefore, his wife and children had a hard time. Anatoly’s wife is his former classmate Nina.
Nina Grigorievna was ten months older than her husband and lived until she was 93 years old. She recalled that after Tarasov proposed to her, they did not organize magnificent ceremonies and simply went to the Baumansky District Executive Committee of Moscow, where they signed. After this, the newlyweds celebrated the event in the institute’s canteen by ordering beef stroganoff, which had previously seemed very expensive to them. As a gift, the bride received a bouquet of flowers and a vase. In the evening of the same day, Tarasov left for Odessa to play for the Dynamo football club. Tarasov just managed to run home and wrote a note: “Mom, it seems I got married!” And Tarasov saw his young wife only when he came to Moscow for the games.
Anatoly Tarasov and his daughter Tatyana
Two daughters Tatyana and Galina were born to this union. I think many people know coach Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova, a former figure skater and now a famous Russian coach.
Anatoly Tarasov died by tragic accident. When his blood was taken for tests, an infection entered his body, which triggered a stroke, which became fatal for a strong and athletic man.
Coaching career
From 1947 to 1975, Tarasov was part of the coaching staff of the CSKA team, although he continued to play himself. In total, the athlete played 100 ice matches on the ice, managing to hit the opponents' goal 106 times. As a result, his players won 18 gold medals.
Coach Anatoly Tarasov
In 1957, the great athlete received the title of Honored Trainer. And in 1958 he began coaching the USSR team. He held this position for 14 long years. As a result - 9 victories of the Soviet team at international competitions, 3 Olympic medals. Quote from Tarasov
“Hockey is a celebration of feeling and beauty”
conveys the entire spectrum of Tarasov’s rainbow emotions in relation to the main business of his life - sports.
Anatoly Tarasov and the USSR national team
In 1961, Tarasov resigned from the position of head coach, and Arkady Chernyshev took his place. The reason for leaving was that he did not carry out the orders of the authorities of the Soviet state. Tarasov was required to allow his team to play with the same score in the match with Czechoslovakia, which would provide it with an honorary silver medal. The final score was 5:2, the victory was ours, and he was fired.
“It’s a pity for people who are indifferent to sports. They seem to be making their lives very poor. What about me... They’ll say: start your life again - I’ll choose the path of a coach again. Because it’s a damn interesting profession—to educate people who are strong in both body and spirit.”
Such a quote from the mouth of a great athlete would not surprise. The coach put his whole heart into his players.
Beginning of a coaching career
The athlete returned from the war with the rank of major, went into the reserves and, on the recommendation of army football coach B. Arkadbev, was appointed coach of the football and hockey teams of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District - this is how coach Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov was born. At the same time, Tarasov also took to the field as a player, so he was one of the unique phenomena of Soviet and world sports - a player-coach. He played and coached equally well and this is one of the most interesting facts in the biography of a great man! His success as a coach was such that he was noticed “at the top” and in 1947 he was appointed player-coach of the CDKA team, which also bore the name CDSA, and later CSKA. As part of the club, Tarasov played a total of 100 matches on the field, scoring 106 goals and becoming the USSR hockey champion three times. In 1950, Tarasov decided to end his playing career in order to focus on the coaching profession. As a coach of the CSKA hockey team, Tarasov won the USSR championship 18 times (the first in 1948, the last under the guidance of a coach in 1975).
In the photo below is a still from the movie “Legend No. 17”, in which the role of a talented coach was played by O. Menshikov.
Personal life
The Great Tarasov entered into a legal marriage in the summer of 1939. His wife was Nina, a classmate who studied with him at the same educational institution. In the winter of 1947, the couple had a daughter. The happy couple gave her the name Tatyana.
Anatoly Tarasov with his wife and children
As even casual sports fans know, Tatyana Tarasova is now a famous Russian coach, for whom figure skating is her life’s work.
Anatoly Tarasov with his daughter Tatyana
Despite the fact that the family experienced considerable bitterness during the war years, in the 1950s the daughter of the legend skillfully stayed on the ice. Her father helped her do pirouettes, because children for Tarasov were one of the main values in life. The couple named their second daughter Galina (she died in 2009).
Books and films
In the athlete’s books “Hockey of the Future” and “Hockey Tactics,” every future player who dreams of becoming a professional hockey player will find a lot of useful information for themselves. For example, descriptions of attacks and defenses both individually and when interacting with a team. According to the great coach, a significant role, in addition to the well-known characteristics of an athlete, should be the hockey player’s ability to simultaneously remember tactics and move on skates.
Anatoly Tarasov wrote a number of books about hockey
Anatoly Vladimirovich’s wards, for example, eminent athletes Petrov, Kharlamov, Tretyak, Firsov, have repeatedly won prizes at the World Championships and Olympic Games. One of the well-known sports films called “Legend No. 17” tells about the beginning of the sports career of a hockey player from the USSR - Valery Kharlamov.
Oleg Menshikov as Tarasov
The movie begins with unforgettable memories of 1956: a Spanish bullfight in the native country of the mother of the great athlete. Then the viewer already sees Moscow landscapes; the plot begins to take place in 1967. The young athlete meets the famous Anatoly Tarasov. It is he who sends his ward to the Chelyabinsk region in order to perform for the Zvezda club.
Having put an end to all the difficulties of playing in this team, which was not known for its high performance, Valery soon begins to demonstrate excellent results. Thanks to Tarasov, he first makes his way into the leading positions of CSKA, then into the Soviet national team.
The main roles were played by Danila Kozlovsky, Svetlana Ivanova, Oleg Menshikov, who played the role of Tarasov, and Boris Shcherbakov.
Information about biography and professional achievements
In 1937, the young man was able to take up sports more professionally, for this reason he entered the Higher School of Coaches, where he was taught the necessary knowledge and skills by the best teachers; this educational institution was organized at the Moscow Institute of Physical Culture.
Anatoly Tarasov: photo
Since the young man at that time already had some practical knowledge of the game, he also wanted to learn something from theory in order to apply his knowledge in the game.
Just a couple of years later, the young man was invited to become a coach at one of the fairly famous football clubs “Dynamo”, which was located in Odessa. Already at such a young age, the young man was able to attract a lot of attention from more famous coaches and athletes; people often wanted to know more about the biography and family of Anatoly Tarasov.
Many managers noted that this man was different from other trainers, since at the age of twenty he had very distinctive and outstanding abilities.
When a long war began, the man tried to stay in the barracks located in Moscow, as he wanted to see his loved ones more often and be close. In those days, the young man was trained in hand-to-hand combat, and then his detachment was stationed as guards at the central house of the Soviet army. When the war ended, the young man’s family was allocated a separate room in a communal apartment, and almost immediately after that, a great army football coach named V. Arkadyev recommended that Tarasov be enrolled in the Air Force Moscow Military District sports club.
Anatoly Tarasov in his youth
The first season of the championship, in which the USSR hockey team participated, was not as successful as desired, and the team took only fifth place, but at the same time Tarasov himself also played along with his hockey players and personally scored fourteen goals, for which many called a sniper. Thus, Anatoly showed himself as an athlete and a coach at the same time. Just a few years later, the young man was able to train his team so that it became a permanent presence on the leaderboard. A little later, the young man was enrolled in CDKA as a playing coach, today this team is called CSKA, and here all the coaches remembered Anatoly as the best theoretician, and the players invited their coach to play with them. At that time, the biography, personal life and children of Anatoly Tarasov were very vigorously discussed on television; biography photos often flashed on the air, because the man had achieved enormous success.
Death
The life of Anatoly Vladimirovich was tragically cut short on June 23, 1995. A fateful coincidence of circumstances, the price of which is a terrible death. When taking tests, a deadly virus entered Tarasov’s blood, and it was this that caused his death. The infection triggered a stroke, which only accelerated the athlete’s departure.
Grave of Anatoly Tarasov
Anatoly Tarasov died in the hospital. The legend's grave is located in Moscow, at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
