Taliaferro ( /ˈtɒlɪvər/ TOL-i-vər), also spelled Talifero,Tellifero Tolliver, or Toliver, is a prominent family in the United States Commonwealth of Virginia. The Taliaferros (originally Tagliaferro, ironcutter in Italian) are one of the early families who settled in Virginia in the 17th century. They migrated from London, where an ancestor had served as a musician in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. The surname originates with a northern Italian immigrant who had moved to England.

A legend exists about the name having originated in Roman times in what was called Gaul, which leads many bearers of the name to believe that their ancestors were actually French, not Italian, since Gaul is generally known to be the ancient name for today's France; however, Gaul was a term applied to a very wide region that also comprised the whole of northern Italy called Cisalpine Gaul. Tagliaferro is a common surname in northeastern Italy, especially in the area around Venice.

The origins of the Taliaferro name were of interest to George Wythe, Virginia colonial lawyer and classical scholar, who had married a Taliaferro. Wythe urged his former student and friend Thomas Jefferson to investigate the name when Jefferson traveled to Italy. Jefferson later reported to Wythe that he had found two families of the name in Tuscany, and that the family was of Italian origin. Jefferson enclosed his sketch of the coat-of-arms of the Tagliaferro family as reported to him by a friend in Florence, Italy.

Adam Taliaferro (b. January 1, 1982, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania), is a former American football player whose recovery from a paralyzing spinal cord injury sustained while playing cornerback for the Penn State Nittany Lions gained national media attention.

Growing up in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, he was a standout running back and cornerback for the Eastern High School Vikings. In two years of varsity football at Eastern High School, he averaged 9.4 yards per carry, racking up 62 touchdowns, and seven Interceptions. Taliaferro was also a four year varsity starter in basketball, and set his school's record in the high jump at 6' 6".

In 2000, Taliaferro joined the Penn State Nittany Lions football team as one of the top-rated^{[citation needed]} freshmen of their 2000 recruiting class. Taliaferro earned playing time as a true freshman for Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions, despite Paterno's well-documented tendency to redshirt freshman players.

On September 23, 2000, while playing in only the fifth game of his college career, Taliaferro sustained a career-ending spinal cord injury while tackling tailback Jerry Westbrooks during Penn State's game versus Ohio State. Taliaferro's helmet had hit Westbrooks' knee during the tackle, bursting the fifth cervical vertebra in his neck and bruising his spinal cord. Unable to control his fall, the crown of his helmet hit the turf and his body rolled awkwardly over his neck. Taliaferro was paralyzed on the hit, which left him with no movement from the neck down.

Arturo "Thunder" Gatti (April 15, 1972 – July 11, 2009) was an Italian-Canadian professional boxer. Born in Cassino, Italy and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Gatti relocated to Jersey City, United States as a teenager. He returned to Montreal after retiring from boxing to work in real estate.

Gatti won world championships designated by two different boxing boards in two different weight classes. He also participated in Ring Magazine's "Fight of the Year" a total of four times (1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003). He announced his retirement on July 14, 2007.

Arturo Gatti was a member of the Canadian National team, and was training to represent Canada at the 1992 Summer Games, but at age 19 (in 1991), he decided to turn pro instead. He began boxing professionally on the night of November 17, 1992.

His next fight, on March 24, 1993, was his first fight abroad, where he visited Amsterdam, Netherlands and knocked out Plawen Goutchev in round one.

In 1994, he beat Leon Bostic, and followed through with a win over Pete Taliaferro to win the USBA Super Featherweight title, by a knockout in round one. He retained the title against Richard Salazar and former world champion Jose Sanabria.

John Taliaferro (1768 – August 12, 1852) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer and librarian from Virginia.

Born on "Hays" near Fredericksburg, Virginia, Taliaferro attended the common schools as a child. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in Fredericksburg.

Taliaferro was elected a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1800, serving from 1801 to 1803. In 1811 he was elected again and served until 1813.

In 1823, Taliaferro was elected to the House a third time, originally to fill a vacancy as a Crawford Republican, Adams Republican and Anti-Jacksonian. He served from 1824 to 1831.

Elected a fourth time in 1834, he ran as an Anti-Jacksonian and Whig, serving from 1835 to 1843. He was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions from 1839 to 1843.

Taliaferro worked as a librarian at the United States Treasury Department from 1850 to 1852. He died at his farm "Hagley" near Fredericksburg on August 12, 1852. He was interred on the property.

Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno (pronounced /pəˈtɜrnoʊ/; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), often referred to as "JoePa", was an American college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for nearly 46 years, from 1966 through 2011. At the time of his death he held the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football coach with 409 and was the only FBS coach to reach 400 victories. He coached five undefeated teams that won major bowl games and, in 2007, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach. Despite his achievements as a coach, Paterno's career ended abruptly in 2011 after he was fired for his "failure of leadership" in the child sex abuse scandal surrounding his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Brown University, where he played football both as the quarterback and a cornerback. Originally planning to be a lawyer, he instead signed on as an assistant football coach at Penn State in 1950, persuaded by his college coach Rip Engle who had taken over as Penn State's head coach. Sixteen years later, in 1966, Paterno was named as Engle's successor. Before long, he had coached the team to two undefeated regular seasons in 1968 and 1969. He went on to win two national championships—in 1982 and again in 1986. In all, he led the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl appearances with 24 wins all while turning down offers to coach NFL teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots. Paterno became the winningest coach in Division I history on October 29, 2011.