Eugene Vanvoy Baker (c. 1854 – October 16, 1942)[1] was a pioneer college football player and coach for the Yale Bulldogs of Yale University.[2][3][4] Playing alongside Walter Camp,[5][6] he was captain of the 1876 and 1877 teams, which includes the first Yale team to defeat Harvard.[7][8] A plaque in Yale's trophy room read "In Recognition of the Services of Eugene V. Baker, '77 The Organizer and Captain of Yale's First Victorious Football Team This Room Has been Furnished and The Tablet Placed Here By His Classmates 1893." He later became a major land developer in California, first as a bookkeeper for the San Gabriel Valley Land & Water Company.[7][9] Photographs of the Baker family is in the Hargrett Library of the University of Georgia Libraries."[10][11]
 | |
| Yale Bulldogs | |
|---|---|
| Position | Back |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | c. 1854 |
| Died: | October 16, 1942 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Career history | |
| College | Yale (1873–1877) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Early years
editBaker was born to Obadiah (later Orrin) S. Baker and his wife Sarah. Orrin's mother was a descendant of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower. Eugene's father Orrin was an attorney and Civil War veteran who defended Henry Wirz. Later in life Orrin suffered from delusions, and died from exhaustion "a hopeless, mentally deranged, prisoner."[9]
References
edit- ^ "California, Los Angeles, Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery/Crematory Records, 1884-2002", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DB7W-GYPZ : 14 December 2020), Eugene Van Voy Baker, 1942.
- ^ "The Father of American football". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. 29. January 5, 1902.
- ^ Wiley Lee Umphlett (1992). Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football. p. 8. ISBN 9780313284045.
- ^ "History". Archived from the original on April 30, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
- ^ "1877 Telegram from Eugene V. Baker - Sports Antique of the Week November 25th- December 1st 2012". www.sportsantiques.com.
- ^ PFRA Research. "Camp and his Followers" (PDF).
- ^ a b "The Father of American football". Los Angeles Herald. January 5, 1902 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ Kirk, Jason (January 30, 2020). "College football scheduling has always been this dumb". Banner Society.
- ^ a b Robert Scott Davis (2006). Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonville. Mercer University Press. p. 205. ISBN 9780881460124.
- ^ Parke H. Davis (1917). Football, the American Intercollegiate Game. p. 70.
- ^ Herbert M. Sedgwick (1897). "Yale's Great Trophy Room". The Illustrated American. 21: 638.