Terry Baker
![]() Baker at Oregon Statec.1963 | |||||||||||||||||
No. 15, 11 | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
Born: | Pine River, Minnesota,U.S. | May 5, 1941||||||||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||||
Weight: | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||||
High school: | Jefferson (Portland, Oregon) | ||||||||||||||||
College: | Oregon State(1960–1962) | ||||||||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1963/ Round: 1 / Pick:1 | ||||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Career CFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Player stats atPFR | |||||||||||||||||
Terry Wayne Baker(born May 5, 1941) is an American formerfootballquarterbackwho played in theNational Football League(NFL) and theCanadian Football League(CFL). He playedcollege footballandbasketballatOregon State University,where he was a member ofPhi Delta Theta.Baker played for theOregon State Beavers footballteam from 1960 to 1962, winning theHeisman Trophyas a senior. In the spring of his senior year, he ledthe basketball teamto the1963 Final Four.To date, he is the only athlete to win a Heisman Trophy and play in the Final Four.[2]
Baker was thefirst overall pickin the1963 NFL draftand played with theLos Angeles Ramsfrom 1963 to 1965. He then played for one season in the CFL with theEdmonton Eskimosin 1967. Baker was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Famein 1982.
Early life and education
[edit]Terry Baker was born May 5, 1941, inPine River, Minnesota,and raised inPortland, Oregon.He attended itsJefferson High School,where he was a standout three-sport athlete. Baker was a three-year letter winner in basketball, and led the Democrats to thePortland Interscholastic Leaguecity championship his senior year. Baker was also a great baseball player; he lettered all four years and led Jefferson to the 1959statechampionship.
Football was Baker's most dominant sport and he played quarterback and tailback for the Democrats. In his junior and senior seasons, the Democrats were 23–0 and won consecutive state championships. As a senior, he threw for 1,261 yards and ran for 438 yards.[3]
College career
[edit]Baker playedpoint guardon theOregon State basketball team,and quarterback infootball,but was a halfback as a sophomore in1960.He threw for 3,476 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushing for 1503 yards and 15 touchdowns, and graduated with aBachelor of Scienceinmechanical engineeringin 1963.
On November 27, 1962, Bakerwon the Heisman Trophyfor his achievements during the1962season. He was the first player from a school west of Texas to win the award. In addition to winning the Heisman, he also won theMaxwell Awardand theW. J. Voit Memorial Trophyin 1962, was a consensus first teamAll-American,was named as theSports IllustratedSportsman of the Year,[1]was aHelms FoundationAward recipient and won 14 player of the year awards, including from AP, UPI andThe Sporting News.He also played in theCollege All-Star GameinChicagoon August 2, 1963, the last time the collegiate stars defeated the reigningNFL champion.[4]
Baker's 99-yard run in the first quarter againstVillanovain the frigidLiberty Bowl(inPhiladelphiain mid-December 1962), the only score in Oregon State's 6–0 victory,[5][6][7]remains an NCAA record. Because plays from scrimmage can never start from the goal line, the record can never be broken, only tied.[citation needed]
Professional career
[edit]Baker was the first overall pick in the1963 NFL draft,taken by theLos Angeles Rams.[8][9]He was also the ninetieth pick of theAFL draftin thetwelfth roundby theSan Diego Chargers). The Rams had draftedRoman Gabrielin 1962 and hadZeke Bratkowskion the roster as well.
Before going into training camp with the Rams, he led the College All-Stars to victory in theChicago College All-Star Gamethat matched them against the defending NFL champion (Green Bay Packers), the last time the college team would beat an NFL team before the game was discontinued in 1976. When Baker arrived in camp, he dazzled in the presentation of calling out signals and handing the ball out while doing soft throws for warm-up lobs. However, as camp went on, it was discovered that he did not have a strong arm to throw the ball hard more than a general lob, as his arm was used to rolling out to throw in college rather than throwing a straight pass from the pocket. The result was that while he could throw short passes capably, his long passes were susceptible to being intercepted due to low velocity.
In a game against theDetroit Lions,Baker threw three interceptions, with one returned for a touchdown.[10]He went 6-of-12 for 72 yards while rushing four times for 21 yards in a 23-2 loss.[11]Four games later, he went 5-of-7 for 68 yards with one interception versus the Chicago Cardinals while running five times for 25 yards. These were his only two games where he served as a primary quarterback (aside from two games where he was sent to throw one pass).
Baker was converted torunning backby the Rams in1964.[12]
He scored his only touchdowns in his final season of 1965. He caught 8 passes for 82 yards against the Chicago Bears on September 26; he caught a ten-yard pass fromBill Munsonin the fourth quarter that served as the go-ahead points in a 30-28 win.[13]The next week against the Minnesota Vikings, Baker caught a 38-yard pass from Gabriel in the first quarter, but the Rams lost 38-35 while he caught four passes for 61 yards.[14]He scored his last touchdown on October 17, 1965, rushing the ball one yard in his only carry against the San Francisco 49ers in a loss.[15]
In total, Baker rushed 58 times for 210 yards in his career with thirty catches for 302 yards in three seasons with the Rams as quarterback-turned-halfback-turned-receiver before he was released in the summer of 1966. He went to theEdmonton Eskimosof theCanadian Football League(CFL), while earning aJ.D.at theUniversity of Southern California Law School,studying at night during football season and full-time in the offseason. He was a backup QB and running back with Eskimos but played sparingly. A pulled muscle in the groin, alongside a dispute about a contract while he tried to take the bar exam in Oregon, led to the end of his professional football career. Baker would then return to Portland, where he was a founding partner at the law firmTonkon Torp.[16][17]
Later years
[edit]Baker was inducted into theState of Oregon Sports Hall of Famein 1980,[18]theCollege Football Hall of Famein 1982 and the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.[19]Oregon State has retired his No. 11 football jersey, the only number retired by the football team.[20][21]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abWright, Alfred (January 7, 1963)."Sportsman of the Year: Terry Baker".Sports Illustrated.p. 16.
- ^"Heisman Trophy".Archived fromthe originalon December 8, 2007.RetrievedJanuary 5,2008.
- ^"Terry Baker".Heisman.RetrievedFebruary 1,2021.
- ^"VanderKelen sparks Stars to 20-17 win".Eugene Register-Guard.(Oregon). Associated Press. August 3, 1963. p. 1B.
- ^"Oregon State wins Liberty Bowl, 6-0".Reading Eagle.(Pennsylvania). UPI. December 16, 1962. p. 41.
- ^"Beavers win on Baker's big run".Eugene Register-Guard.(Oregon). Associated Press. December 16, 1962. p. 1B.
- ^"Fumbles foil Villanova's bid for grid upset".Bend Bulletin.(Oregon). UPI. December 17, 1962. p. 3.
- ^"Terry Baker".pro-football-reference.RetrievedJanuary 5,2008.
- ^"Beavers in the Pros"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on February 8, 2015.RetrievedJanuary 4,2008.
- ^"Two Big Surprises: Longshot Makes It, a Sureshot Doesn't: TERRY BAKER: He Seemed to Have It All and the Rams Went for It".Los Angeles Times.April 26, 1987.
- ^"Detroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams - September 14th, 1963".Pro-Football-Reference.
- ^"Terry Baker,"Pro Football Reference, pro-football-reference
- ^"Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams - September 26th, 1965".Pro-Football-Reference.
- ^"Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams - October 3rd, 1965".Pro-Football-Reference.
- ^"Terry Baker Career Game Log".Pro-Football-Reference.
- ^Eggers, Kerry (November 22, 2012)."Heisman redux for Terry Baker".Portland Tribune.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
- ^"Tonkon Torp Firm History".tonkon.Tonkon Torp LLP.RetrievedJune 6,2017.
- ^"Terry Baker – Football | Oregon Sports Hall of Fame & Museum".RetrievedFebruary 1,2021.
- ^"Terry Baker (1988) - Hall of Fame".Oregon State University Athletics.RetrievedFebruary 1,2021.
- ^"Terry Baker – Football | Oregon Sports Hall of Fame & Museum".
- ^Jennings, Chantel (June 3, 2015)."Numbers you don't mess with in the Pac-12".ESPN.RetrievedJuly 7,2024.
Further reading
[edit]- Beau Riffenburgh,"Terry Baker: A Different Success",The Coffin Corner,vol. 9, no. 7 (1987).
External links
[edit]- Terry Bakerat theCollege Football Hall of Fame
- Terry BakeratHeisman
- Career statistics and player information fromNFL·Pro Football Reference
- Terry Baker Oral History Interview
- 1941 births
- Living people
- American football quarterbacks
- Players of Canadian football from Minnesota
- Canadian football quarterbacks
- Guards (basketball)
- Edmonton Elks players
- Los Angeles Rams players
- Oregon State Beavers football players
- Oregon State Beavers men's basketball players
- All-American college football players
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees
- Heisman Trophy winners
- Maxwell Award winners
- First overall NFL draft picks
- Oregon lawyers
- Jefferson High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni
- USC Gould School of Law alumni
- Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon
- Players of American football from Portland, Oregon
- Basketball players from Portland, Oregon
- American men's basketball players
- Lawyers from Portland, Oregon