Terry Baker

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American gridiron football and basketball player (born 1941)

title: "Terry Baker" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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", "players-of-american-football-from-portland,-oregon", "basketball-players-from-portland,-oregon", "american-men's-basketball-players", "lawyers-from-portland,-oregon", "phi-delta-theta-members", "20th-century-american-sportsmen"] description: "American gridiron football and basketball player (born 1941)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Baker" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American gridiron football and basketball player (born 1941) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox gridiron football biography"]

FieldValue
nameTerry Baker
image1963 NCAA Basketball Championship program - Terry Baker (cropped).jpg
altBaker with the Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team, circa 1963
captionBaker at Oregon State 1963
number15, 11, 12
positionQuarterback
birth_date
birth_placePine River, Minnesota, U.S.
height_ft6
height_in3
weight_lb200
high_schoolJefferson
(Portland, Oregon)
collegeOregon State (1960–1962)
draftyear1963
draftround1
draftpick1
afldraftyear1963
afldraftround12
afldraftpick90
* SI Sportsman of the Year (1962)<ref namesisoy
statlabel1Passing attempts
statvalue121
statlabel2Passing completions
statvalue212
statlabel3Completion percentage
statvalue357.1%
statlabel4TD–INT
statvalue40–4
statlabel5Passing yards
statvalue5154
statlabel6Passer rating
statvalue640.7
statlabel7Receiving yards
statvalue7302
statlabel8Receiving touchdowns
statvalue82
cflstatlabel1Passing attempts
cflstatvalue136
cflstatlabel2Passing completions
cflstatvalue223
cflstatlabel3Completion percentage
cflstatvalue363.9%
cflstatlabel4TD–INT
cflstatvalue41–2
cflstatlabel5Passing yards
cflstatvalue5344
pfrB/BakeTe00
CollegeHOF1863
::

| name = Terry Baker | image = 1963 NCAA Basketball Championship program - Terry Baker (cropped).jpg | alt = Baker with the Oregon State Beavers men's basketball team, circa 1963 | caption = Baker at Oregon State 1963 | number = 15, 11, 12 | position = Quarterback | birth_date = | birth_place = Pine River, Minnesota, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 3 | weight_lb = 200 | high_school = Jefferson (Portland, Oregon) | college = Oregon State (1960–1962) | draftyear = 1963 | draftround = 1 | draftpick = 1 | afldraftyear = 1963 | afldraftround = 12 | afldraftpick = 90 | pastteams =

Terry Wayne Baker (born May 5, 1941) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football and basketball at Oregon State University, where he was a member and president of Phi Delta Theta. Baker played for the Oregon State Beavers football team from 1960 to 1962, winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior. In the spring of his senior year, he led the basketball team to the 1963 Final Four. To date, he is the only athlete to win a Heisman Trophy and play in the Final Four.

Baker was the first overall pick in the 1963 NFL draft and played with the Los Angeles Rams from 1963 to 1965. He then played for one season in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1967. Baker was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

Early life and education

Terry Baker was born May 5, 1941, in Pine River, Minnesota, and raised in Portland, Oregon. He attended Jefferson High School, where he was a standout three-sport athlete. Baker was a three-year letter winner in basketball, and led the Democrats to the Portland Interscholastic League city championship his senior year. Baker was also a great baseball player; he lettered all four years and led Jefferson to the 1959 state championship.

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.

College career

Baker played point guard on the Oregon State basketball team, and quarterback in football, but was a halfback as a sophomore in 1960. He threw for 3,476 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushing for 1503 yards and 15 touchdowns, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1963.

On November 27, 1962, Baker won the Heisman Trophy for his achievements during the 1962 season. He was the first player from a school west of Texas to win the award. In addition to winning the Heisman, he also won the Maxwell Award and the W. J. Voit Memorial Trophy in 1962, was a consensus first team All-American, was named as the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year,

Baker's 99-yard run in the first quarter against Villanova in the frigid Liberty Bowl (in Philadelphia in mid-December 1962), the only score in Oregon State's 6–0 victory, remains an NCAA record. Because plays from scrimmage can never start from the goal line, the record can never be broken, only tied.

Professional career

Baker was the first overall pick in the 1963 NFL draft, taken by the Los Angeles Rams. He was also the ninetieth pick of the AFL draft in the twelfth round by the San Diego Chargers). The Rams had drafted Roman Gabriel in 1962 and had Zeke Bratkowski on the roster as well.

Before going into training camp with the Rams, he led the College All-Stars to victory in the Chicago College All-Star Game that 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 the Detroit Lions, Baker threw three interceptions, with one returned for a touchdown. He went 6-of-12 for 72 yards while rushing four times for 21 yards in a 23–2 loss. 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 to running back by the Rams in 1964.

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 from Bill Munson in the fourth quarter that served as the go-ahead points in a 30–28 win. 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. 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.

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 the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL), while earning a J.D. at the University 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 firm Tonkon Torp.

Later years

Baker was inducted into the State of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1988. Oregon State has retired his No. 11 football jersey, the only number retired by the football team.

References

References

  1. Wright, Alfred. (January 7, 1963). "Sportsman of the Year: Terry Baker".
  2. "''Heisman Trophy''".
  3. "Terry Baker".
  4. (August 3, 1963). "VanderKelen sparks Stars to 20-17 win". Eugene Register-Guard.
  5. (December 16, 1962). "Oregon State wins Liberty Bowl, 6-0". Reading Eagle.
  6. (December 16, 1962). "Beavers win on Baker's big run". Eugene Register-Guard.
  7. (December 17, 1962). "Fumbles foil Villanova's bid for grid upset". Bend Bulletin.
  8. "Terry Baker". pro-football-reference.com.
  9. "''Beavers in the Pros''".
  10. (26 April 1987). "Two Big Surprises: Longshot Makes It, a Sureshot Doesn't : TERRY BAKER : He Seemed to Have It All and the Rams Went for It".
  11. "Detroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams - September 14th, 1963".
  12. [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BakeTe00.htm "Terry Baker,"] Pro Football Reference, www.pro-football-reference.com
  13. "Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams - September 26th, 1965".
  14. "Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams - October 3rd, 1965".
  15. "Terry Baker Career Game Log".
  16. (November 22, 2012}}{{dead link). "Heisman redux for Terry Baker". Portland Tribune.
  17. "Tonkon Torp Firm History". Tonkon Torp LLP.
  18. "Terry Baker – Football {{!}} Oregon Sports Hall of Fame & Museum".
  19. "Terry Baker (1988) - Hall of Fame".
  20. "Terry Baker – Football | Oregon Sports Hall of Fame & Museum".
  21. Jennings, Chantel. (2015-06-03). "Numbers you don't mess with in the Pac-12".

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1941-birthsliving-peopleamerican-football-quarterbacksplayers-of-canadian-football-from-minnesotacanadian-football-quarterbacksguards-(basketball)edmonton-elks-playerslos-angeles-rams-playersoregon-state-beavers-football-playersoregon-state-beavers-men's-basketball-playersall-american-college-football-playerscollege-football-hall-of-fame-inducteesheisman-trophy-winnersmaxwell-award-winnersfirst-overall-nfl-draft-picksoregon-lawyersjefferson-high-school-(portland,-oregon)-alumniusc-gould-school-of-law-alumniplayers-of-american-football-from-portland,-oregonbasketball-players-from-portland,-oregonamerican-men's-basketball-playerslawyers-from-portland,-oregonphi-delta-theta-members20th-century-american-sportsmen