Hobey Baker
Encyclopedia
Hobart Amory Hare "Hobey" Baker (January 15, 1892 – December 21, 1918) was an American amateur athlete of the early twentieth century. Regarded as the first American star in ice hockey
, he was also an accomplished football
player. Born into a prominent family from Philadelphia, he enrolled at Princeton University
in 1910. Baker excelled on the university's hockey and football
teams, and became a noted amateur hockey player for the St. Nicholas Club
in New York City. He was a member of three national championship teams, for football in 1911 and hockey in 1912 and 1914, and helped the St. Nicholas Club win a national amateur championship in 1915. Baker graduated from Princeton in 1914 and worked for J.P. Morgan Bank
until he enlisted in the United States Army Air Service
. During World War I he served with the 103rd
and the 13th Aero Squadrons before being promoted to captain and named commander of the 141st Squadron
. Baker died in December 1918 after a plane he was test piloting crashed, hours before he was due to leave France and return to America.
Baker was widely regarded by his contemporaries as one of the best athletes of his time and is considered one of the best American hockey players. When the Hockey Hall of Fame
was founded in 1945, Baker was named one of the first twelve inductees, the only American among them. In 1973 he became one of the initial inductees in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
in 1975, and is the only person to be in both the Hockey and College Football Halls of Fame.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
idolized Baker and included him as a minor character in the 1920 novel This Side of Paradise
. In 1921, Princeton opened its hockey arena, named the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink
in honor of Baker. The National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA), the governing body of college sports in the United States, introduced the Hobey Baker Award
in 1980; it is awarded annually to the best collegiate hockey player.
, the second son of Alfred Thornton Baker, a wealthy upholsterer
, and Mary Augusta Pemberton, a socialite. Alfred, known as Bobby to his friends, had played halfback
while a student at Princeton University
in the 1880s, the same school his father had attended. One of Baker's ancestors was Francis Rawle, a Quaker who emigrated to Philadelphia in 1688 and became one of the most wealthy members of the city. Baker was named after his uncle, Dr. Hobart Amory Hare, who was the obstetrician at his birth and president of the Jefferson Medical Hospital in Philadelphia. At the age of 11, Baker and his 12-year-old brother Thornton were sent to St. Paul's School
in Concord, New Hampshire
. Baker's parents divorced in 1907 and both remarried.
While at St. Paul's, Baker was introduced to hockey. Malcolm Gordon
, who was one of the first people to help develop hockey in the United States, was the coach of the school team and recognized Baker's skill; Baker was known by his classmates to be an exceptionally fast and agile skater. He spent nights skating on frozen ponds to improve his ability to move with the puck while not looking down. Baker was named to the school's varsity team at the age of fourteen and helped St. Paul's defeat some of the best prep schools and universities in the United States. In every sport he attempted, Baker soon demonstrated proficiency. His cousin said that Baker swam through water "like some sort of engine". After his first attempt at golf
he was able to score in the low 40s on the school's nine-hole course; after using roller skates
for the first time, he was able to perform one-legged stunts within minutes. He once entered St. Paul's annual cross-country race for fun and won, defeating some of the school's most proficient runners. At the age of fifteen he was named the school's best athlete for his skill in hockey, football, baseball, tennis, swimming and track. Most of his former classmates recalled their time at St. Paul's with Baker solely by his athletic achievements.
Alfred lost much of his savings in the Panic of 1907
and could only afford to send one of his sons to university. Thornton agreed to let his talented younger brother continue on, a sacrifice that Baker never forgot. Although an above-average student, Baker stayed an extra year at St. Paul's in 1909 to allow his father another year to save money. By the time Baker left St. Paul's his sporting achievements had helped make him one of the school's most popular students.
. Along with six other classmates from St. Paul's, he lived in a house at 82 Nassau Street
in Princeton
. He joined the school's hockey, football, and baseball teams in his freshman year. The university's rules stated that students could only play two varsity sports, so Baker played outfield
for the freshman baseball team before he gave up that sport to focus on hockey and football. In one of his first games with the football team
, he helped defeat rival Yale
when he faked a drop-kick field goal and instead ran the ball for a touchdown
. Easily recognizable on the field as he was one of the few players not to wear a helmet, Baker was referred as "the blond Adonis
of the gridiron" by Philadelphia sportswriters. Princeton finished the 1911 season with a record of eight wins and two ties in ten games and won the national championship. During a game against Yale on November 18, 1911, Baker set a school record when he had 13 punt returns for 63 yards.
During the 1911 football season Baker scored 92 points, a school record that lasted until 1974. Princeton finished the 1912 season with seven wins, one loss, and one tie in nine games. As the Princeton hockey team didn't have its own hockey arena, most of their home games were played in New York City at the St. Nicholas Rink
, one of the only facilities in the world with artificial ice at the time. The team finished the 1911–12 hockey season with a record of eight wins and two losses in ten games. During his sophomore year, Baker was invited to join the Ivy Club, the oldest and most prestigious of the eating clubs that were at the center of social life at the university.
Baker was named captain of the football team in 1913, his senior year. Princeton finished with a record of five wins, two losses, and one tie. Over his three-year football career with the Tigers, Baker scored 180 points, a school record that lasted until 1964 when Cosmo Iacavazzi
broke the record in the final quarter of his last college game. Baker caught over 900 punts
in his career, and averaged 300 yards in punt returns per game. He had been awarded a varsity letter
in football five times; combined with the three letters he earned in hockey, his total of eight was the most that could be earned at Princeton at the time.
It was during the 1913–14 hockey season, Baker's senior year, that his most famous game with Princeton took place. On January 24, 1914 Princeton played Harvard at the Boston Arena. Favored by gamblers to win the game, Princeton had a setback as two of its star players were unable to play due to injury and suspension. Although he was in an opposing team's arena, Baker was given a standing ovation by the sell-out crowd of 6,000 when he first went out onto the ice. Throughout the game Baker kept going offside
, as he was too fast for the two replacement Princeton players (hockey required players to stay behind the puck-carrier at the time). Played in two twenty-minute halves, the game ended regulation with a 1–1 tie, so two extra periods, lasting five minutes each, were held. This also ended with a draw, so the team captains agreed to a sudden death period. Through sixty minutes of game-time, only five Harvard players and one Princeton player had been replaced by a substitute, and Baker was noted as not even breathing heavily at that point. Twenty-three minutes into sudden death, a Harvard substitute player, Leverett Saltonstall
, scored the winning goal. Saltonstall, who would later serve as Governor of Massachusetts
and a United States Senator, would later show off the stick he used to score the winning goal. The game was the longest college hockey game played up to that point, and was regarded as one of the most exciting games in years.
The final hockey game of Baker's Princeton career was at Ottawa's Dey's Arena
against the University of Ottawa
on February 28, 1914 for the Intercollegiate Hockey Championship of America. Ottawa defeated Princeton by a 3–2 score. Princeton won the 1914 national championship after they finished with a record of ten wins and three losses. Statistics were not kept of his time at Princeton, but Baker is estimated to have scored over 120 goals and 100 assists in three years, an average of three goals and three assists per game. As well as skill, Baker was known for his sportsmanship. In a hockey game against Harvard
on January 22, 1913 Baker took the only penalty
of his collegiate career, for slashing; Princeton lost the game 5–4 in overtime. He also visited the dressing rooms of opponents after every game to shake hands with each player.
In early 1914 Baker graduated from Princeton, having majored in history, politics, and economics, and finished with above-average grades. He was named the school's best football player, hockey player, and all-round athlete and the man who had done the most for Princeton. The football team had posted a record of twenty wins, three losses, and four ties in Baker's three seasons as a member; the hockey team fared equally well with a record of twenty wins and seven losses. By the end of his football career at Princeton, he had two notable achievements: he had never fumbled a punt, and had never lost to Yale.
where he wrote about events like the Henley Royal Regatta
. Through his Princeton classmates, he was given a job with Wall Street
insurance firm Johnson & Higgins
upon his return to the United States. Soon after, another Princeton graduate offered him a job at J.P. Morgan Bank
. Hired onto a two-year trainee program, Baker earned about $20 per week. Baker befriended a rich New York socialite, Percy R. Pyne II, who had also attended St. Paul's and Princeton. Though ten years older than Baker, they quickly became friends and Pyne allowed Baker to stay at his house at 263 Madison Avenue. Pyne later introduced Baker to Jeanne Marie Scott, a socialite known as Mimi, to whom Baker was briefly engaged late in 1918. A quiet individual, Baker was embarrassed when bank executives brought important clients by his office to see him. He quickly tired of working in an office job, and looked for ways to alleviate his boredom.
Baker found enjoyment outside the office through sports. He joined the St. Nicholas Club
, an amateur hockey team in New York soon after he arrived in the city. Pyne introduced Baker to both polo
and auto racing
, sports he quickly mastered. Baker remained well known from his time at Princeton; marquees at his home arena, which was shared with Princeton, often said "Hobey Baker Plays Tonight". This made Baker uncomfortable and he eventually asked the building manager to take down the sign. Preferring a life out of the public eye, he once told a reporter that he would rather have nothing written about him. In order to leave the arena quickly after hockey games without having to deal with the public, Baker was often loaned Pyne's valet and car. Baker was offered a contract by the Montreal Canadiens
of the National Hockey Association
while he was still with the St. Nicholas Club. He turned down an offer of $20,000 to play three seasons as social conventions prohibited a person of his standing from playing sport for money.
On March 24, 1917, Baker played his last hockey game at the Winter Garden at Exposition Hall
in Pittsburgh
. The game pitted an amateur all-star team from Philadelphia, led by Baker, against an all-star team from Pittsburgh's amateur leagues. The Philadelphia team defeated Pittsburgh in overtime by a score of 3–2. Baker scored all three Philadelphia goals to net a hat trick
. (historians and biographers had previously believed Baker's last game to have been played in New York City
on February 22, 1917, with the St. Nicholas Skating Club). Baker began to tire of playing hockey after 1915; the constant physical focus opposing him on the ice had taken its toll, and the growing professionalism of the sport went against his belief that sports should be played for the love of the game.
off the coast of Manhattan. He often went to the island late in the afternoon after he finished work for the day. Baker found the same enjoyment in flying that he had in sports, but with a more serious aspect. Prior to the annual Yale-Princeton football game on November 18, 1916, Baker led a squadron of twelve aircraft from two fields over Palmer Stadium, home of the Princeton football team. The planes performed several maneuvers to the delight of the crowd, which at the time was the largest amount of aircraft to have ever flown in military formation. When Baker landed his plane on the field, he also became the first person to reach a football game by air.
The entry of the United States into World War I excited Baker, as it finally gave him a purpose in life and allowed him to make good use of his pilot training. He left the United States for Europe on August 23, 1917, among the first group of Americans to do so. Though eager to join the front immediately, Baker was told that he had to be certified by the French. Success in the courses was dependent on how quickly the pilots learned French, the predominant language of instruction. Though he managed to complete all the courses easily, Baker was discouraged to be sent to a school in England for training and then back to France to teach Americans what he had learned in England, in an attempt to create pilots as quickly as possible. Owing to a lack of aircraft supplies, Baker was stuck in Paris, and doubted he would ever get to the front. While in Paris, he was happy to continue seeing Mimi Scott, who had enlisted as a nurse and worked at a hospital in France.
Promoted to lieutenant in March 1918, Baker was finally sent to the front in April and assigned to the 103rd Aero Squadron
, formed from former members of the Lafayette Escadrille
and Lafayette Flying Corps
in January 1918. Baker helped to bring down an enemy plane for the first time in his career on May 21, but due to a complicated system of confirming kills, he was not given credit for it. In a letter home describing the battle, Baker said it was the "biggest thrill I ever had in my life," and compared it to the feeling after a big sports game. Throughout the spring of 1918 Baker continued to lead planes over the front, and continued to see Scott, although he began to have reservations over their future together due to the financial disparity between them. After his first confirmed kill in May 1918, the French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre
.
During the summer, Baker was transferred to the 13th Bomb Squadron
after its commander, Charles Biddle
, requested that he join the squadron as a flight commander. Though reluctant to leave the 103rd, Baker felt that Biddle would not have requested him without confidence in his abilities. On July 20, the 13th Squadron recorded its first confirmed kill during a flight led by Baker; he and two other men shot down a German plane. In August, Baker and another pilot were promoted and given command of their own squadron; Baker was given charge of the 141st Squadron
, composed of 26 pilots and 180 enlisted men stationed behind the front line, where they had to wait for equipment to arrive before leaving for the front.
Various delays in the arrival of planes and equipment meant that Baker's squadron was unable to participate in the final major offensives of the war. While behind the front in September, Baker became engaged to Scott. He asked Pyne to sell a bond to pay for an engagement ring, and the newspapers in the United States carried headlines that announced the engagement. Early in October, Baker was promoted again and given the rank of captain. The planes and equipment arrived for his squadron soon after. Baker had the planes painted in Princeton's black and orange and adopted a tiger for the squadron insignia. He recorded two more kills in early November, the last of his career (despite reports at the time of his death, Baker was not an ace, as that required five confirmed kills).
Around the time of the armistice which ended the war, Baker's engagement with Scott was broken off; Scott then began a relationship with an American diplomat in Paris, Philander Cable. These two events gave Baker a lack of direction in his life; he dreaded going back to work in an office and considered himself a sportsman rather than a businessman. Though he was scheduled to return to the United States in December, Baker requested and was refused an extension of his time in France.
. This went against tradition and superstition for pilots, as a final flight was usually fatal. As he went for his own plane, the mechanic brought out a recently repaired one instead, in need of a test flight. The other pilots remonstrated with Baker, but he maintained that as commanding officer he could not let anyone else test the aircraft.
In heavy rain, Baker took off and began to level off at 600 feet. A quarter of a mile into the flight, the engine failed. The model of plane Baker was flying was easy to crash-land if necessary, something he had done previously at the cost of a few broken ribs. But on this flight he attempted to land at the airbase, which was made difficult by his lack of altitude, necessary to glide the plane into the hanger. A few hundred yards from the airfield, his plane crashed nose first into the ground. He was quickly freed from the aircraft by his men, but died in an ambulance minutes later; his orders to return home were found in his jacket pocket. Baker was buried in a small military cemetery near Toul, but in 1921 his mother had his remains moved to her family plot in West Laurel Hill Cemetery
, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Newspapers reported that Baker had died as a result of engine failure, but rumors began to circulate that his death was not accidental. Those who knew him were aware of his reluctance to return to civilian life and his feelings over the loss of Scott. He could have returned to America and played professional sport, where he could have earned far more money than that of a job in finance, but his upbringing made that impossible for him. A career in business held no appeal; during a weekend vacation with a fellow Princeton graduate Baker revealed that he felt his life was over, and he would never again experience the thrills of football or hockey.
upon its founding in 1945, the first American so honored, and was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
as one of its charter members in 1973. In 1975, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
and is the only person in both the College Football and Hockey Halls of Fame. Baker was also inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
in 2010.
His popularity was such that after he enlisted in the military the number of his fellow Princeton athletes who followed his lead meant that the school had to cancel its hockey team for the 1917–18 season; all five starting players enlisted in the armed forces. Of the eleven players on the team the previous season, nine enlisted shortly after Baker.
Baker was also the inspiration for literary works. In his senior year at Princeton, F. Scott Fitzgerald
enrolled at the university as a freshman. Though he only spoke to Baker once during their time at Princeton, Fitzgerald idolized him. His first novel, This Side of Paradise
has several references to Baker: the main character is named Amory Blaine after Baker's middle name, and the minor character Allenby is Baker himself. Mark Goodman's 1985 novel, Hurrah for the Next Man Who Dies is a fictionalized account of Baker's life.
Honors were also bestowed on Baker. General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, posthumously cited Baker on March 27, 1919, for exceptional bravery in regards to his actions on May 21, 1918, when he brought down his first plane. The Hobey Baker Award
was established in 1981 and is awarded annually to the best player in NCAA hockey. The Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award
was also created that year and is given to the "all-time great contributors to the game of college hockey" each year. Since 1950, Princeton has awarded the Hobey Baker Trophy to the "freshman hockey player who, among his classmates, in play, sportsmanship and influence has contributed most to the sport." When Princeton opened their hockey arena in 1921, it was named the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink
. At St. Paul's, hockey players compete for an award known as Hobey's Stick. Inside the bar of the Nassau Inn in Princeton is a photo of Baker flanked by two other famous Princeton athletes, Bill Bradley
and Dick Kazmaier
. The Ivy Club, of which Baker was a member, has a painting of him in the living room.
Statistics from Total Hockey,
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, he was also an accomplished football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player. Born into a prominent family from Philadelphia, he enrolled at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1910. Baker excelled on the university's hockey and football
Princeton Tigers football
The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision...
teams, and became a noted amateur hockey player for the St. Nicholas Club
St. Nicholas Rink
The St. Nicholas Rink, also called the St. Nicholas Arena, was an indoor ice rink, and later a boxing arena in New York, New York, from 1896 until 1962. The rink was the second ice rink utilizing mechanically frozen ice for its surface in North America, , enabling a longer season for skating sports...
in New York City. He was a member of three national championship teams, for football in 1911 and hockey in 1912 and 1914, and helped the St. Nicholas Club win a national amateur championship in 1915. Baker graduated from Princeton in 1914 and worked for J.P. Morgan Bank
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...
until he enlisted in the United States Army Air Service
United States Army Air Service
The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation...
. During World War I he served with the 103rd
103rd Aero Squadron
The 103rd Aero Squadron was an Aero pursuit squadron which included officers from the disbanded Lafayette Escadrille, and the Lafayette Flying Corps.-History:...
and the 13th Aero Squadrons before being promoted to captain and named commander of the 141st Squadron
141st Air Refueling Squadron
The 141st Air Refueling Squadron flies the KC-135R Stratotanker. It is a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard. Its parent unit is the 108th Air Refueling Wing.-History:...
. Baker died in December 1918 after a plane he was test piloting crashed, hours before he was due to leave France and return to America.
Baker was widely regarded by his contemporaries as one of the best athletes of his time and is considered one of the best American hockey players. When the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
was founded in 1945, Baker was named one of the first twelve inductees, the only American among them. In 1973 he became one of the initial inductees in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
United States Hockey Hall of Fame
The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the rich history of the game in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and teams....
. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
in 1975, and is the only person to be in both the Hockey and College Football Halls of Fame.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
idolized Baker and included him as a minor character in the 1920 novel This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University...
. In 1921, Princeton opened its hockey arena, named the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink
Hobey Baker Memorial Rink
Hobey Baker Memorial Rink is a 2,092-seat hockey arena in Princeton, New Jersey. It is home to the Princeton University Tigers men's and women's ice hockey teams as well as the venue for club and intramural hockey teams, intramural broomball, figure skating and recreational skating. It is the only...
in honor of Baker. The National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA), the governing body of college sports in the United States, introduced the Hobey Baker Award
Hobey Baker Award
The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player.It is named for hockey player and World War I veteran Hobey Baker, who played collegiately at Princeton University and learned the game at St...
in 1980; it is awarded annually to the best collegiate hockey player.
Early life
Baker was born in Bala Cynwyd, PennsylvaniaBala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
Bala Cynwyd is a community in Lower Merion Township which is located on the Main Line in southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at US Route 1 . It was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but is commonly treated as a single community...
, the second son of Alfred Thornton Baker, a wealthy upholsterer
Upholstery
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English word upholder, which referred to a tradesman who held up his goods. The term is equally applicable to domestic,...
, and Mary Augusta Pemberton, a socialite. Alfred, known as Bobby to his friends, had played halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
while a student at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in the 1880s, the same school his father had attended. One of Baker's ancestors was Francis Rawle, a Quaker who emigrated to Philadelphia in 1688 and became one of the most wealthy members of the city. Baker was named after his uncle, Dr. Hobart Amory Hare, who was the obstetrician at his birth and president of the Jefferson Medical Hospital in Philadelphia. At the age of 11, Baker and his 12-year-old brother Thornton were sent to St. Paul's School
St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)
St. Paul's School is a highly selective college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school is one of only six remaining 100% residential boarding schools in the U.S. The New Hampshire campus currently serves 533 students,...
in Concord, New Hampshire
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
. Baker's parents divorced in 1907 and both remarried.
While at St. Paul's, Baker was introduced to hockey. Malcolm Gordon
Malcolm Gordon
Malcolm K. Gordon was an ice hockey coach at St. Paul's School from 1888 to 1917.In 1882, Gordon arrived at St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire....
, who was one of the first people to help develop hockey in the United States, was the coach of the school team and recognized Baker's skill; Baker was known by his classmates to be an exceptionally fast and agile skater. He spent nights skating on frozen ponds to improve his ability to move with the puck while not looking down. Baker was named to the school's varsity team at the age of fourteen and helped St. Paul's defeat some of the best prep schools and universities in the United States. In every sport he attempted, Baker soon demonstrated proficiency. His cousin said that Baker swam through water "like some sort of engine". After his first attempt at golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
he was able to score in the low 40s on the school's nine-hole course; after using roller skates
Roller skates
Roller skates are devices worn on the feet to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. A first basic type of roller skate consists of a boot with four wheels with ball bearings, arranged in the same configuration as the wheels of a typical car.-History:...
for the first time, he was able to perform one-legged stunts within minutes. He once entered St. Paul's annual cross-country race for fun and won, defeating some of the school's most proficient runners. At the age of fifteen he was named the school's best athlete for his skill in hockey, football, baseball, tennis, swimming and track. Most of his former classmates recalled their time at St. Paul's with Baker solely by his athletic achievements.
Alfred lost much of his savings in the Panic of 1907
Panic of 1907
The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on...
and could only afford to send one of his sons to university. Thornton agreed to let his talented younger brother continue on, a sacrifice that Baker never forgot. Although an above-average student, Baker stayed an extra year at St. Paul's in 1909 to allow his father another year to save money. By the time Baker left St. Paul's his sporting achievements had helped make him one of the school's most popular students.
Princeton
In 1910, Baker enrolled at Princeton UniversityPrinceton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. Along with six other classmates from St. Paul's, he lived in a house at 82 Nassau Street
Nassau Street (Princeton)
Nassau Street is the main downtown thoroughfare of Princeton, New Jersey. As such, of all the streets in Princeton, Nassau Street is the one most often full of automobile and pedestrian traffic. It is the southernmost portion of Route 27 and ends at U.S. Route 206. The main gates of Princeton...
in Princeton
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
. He joined the school's hockey, football, and baseball teams in his freshman year. The university's rules stated that students could only play two varsity sports, so Baker played outfield
Outfield
The outfield is a sporting term used in cricket and baseball to refer to the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield...
for the freshman baseball team before he gave up that sport to focus on hockey and football. In one of his first games with the football team
Princeton Tigers football
The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision...
, he helped defeat rival Yale
Yale Bulldogs football
The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1872...
when he faked a drop-kick field goal and instead ran the ball for a touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
. Easily recognizable on the field as he was one of the few players not to wear a helmet, Baker was referred as "the blond Adonis
Adonis
Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
of the gridiron" by Philadelphia sportswriters. Princeton finished the 1911 season with a record of eight wins and two ties in ten games and won the national championship. During a game against Yale on November 18, 1911, Baker set a school record when he had 13 punt returns for 63 yards.
During the 1911 football season Baker scored 92 points, a school record that lasted until 1974. Princeton finished the 1912 season with seven wins, one loss, and one tie in nine games. As the Princeton hockey team didn't have its own hockey arena, most of their home games were played in New York City at the St. Nicholas Rink
St. Nicholas Rink
The St. Nicholas Rink, also called the St. Nicholas Arena, was an indoor ice rink, and later a boxing arena in New York, New York, from 1896 until 1962. The rink was the second ice rink utilizing mechanically frozen ice for its surface in North America, , enabling a longer season for skating sports...
, one of the only facilities in the world with artificial ice at the time. The team finished the 1911–12 hockey season with a record of eight wins and two losses in ten games. During his sophomore year, Baker was invited to join the Ivy Club, the oldest and most prestigious of the eating clubs that were at the center of social life at the university.
Baker was named captain of the football team in 1913, his senior year. Princeton finished with a record of five wins, two losses, and one tie. Over his three-year football career with the Tigers, Baker scored 180 points, a school record that lasted until 1964 when Cosmo Iacavazzi
Cosmo Iacavazzi
Cosmo Iacavazzi was an American college and professional football player. A fullback, he played college football at Princeton University and was a member of the Tiger Inn Eating Club. After graduating from Princeton, he played professionally in the American Football League for the New York Jets...
broke the record in the final quarter of his last college game. Baker caught over 900 punts
Punt (football)
In some codes of football, a punt is a play in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it touches the ground. A punt is in contrast to a drop kick, in which the ball touches the ground before being kicked....
in his career, and averaged 300 yards in punt returns per game. He had been awarded a varsity letter
Varsity letter
A varsity letter is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its winner was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.- Description :...
in football five times; combined with the three letters he earned in hockey, his total of eight was the most that could be earned at Princeton at the time.
It was during the 1913–14 hockey season, Baker's senior year, that his most famous game with Princeton took place. On January 24, 1914 Princeton played Harvard at the Boston Arena. Favored by gamblers to win the game, Princeton had a setback as two of its star players were unable to play due to injury and suspension. Although he was in an opposing team's arena, Baker was given a standing ovation by the sell-out crowd of 6,000 when he first went out onto the ice. Throughout the game Baker kept going offside
Offside (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, the current play is offside if a player on the attacking team enters the attacking zone before the puck itself enters the zone, either carried by a teammate or sent into the attacking zone by an attacking player. If a defending player carries, passes, or otherwise intentionally sends...
, as he was too fast for the two replacement Princeton players (hockey required players to stay behind the puck-carrier at the time). Played in two twenty-minute halves, the game ended regulation with a 1–1 tie, so two extra periods, lasting five minutes each, were held. This also ended with a draw, so the team captains agreed to a sudden death period. Through sixty minutes of game-time, only five Harvard players and one Princeton player had been replaced by a substitute, and Baker was noted as not even breathing heavily at that point. Twenty-three minutes into sudden death, a Harvard substitute player, Leverett Saltonstall
Leverett Saltonstall
Leverett A. Saltonstall was an American Republican politician who served as the 55th Governor of Massachusetts and as a United States Senator .-Biography:...
, scored the winning goal. Saltonstall, who would later serve as Governor of Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
and a United States Senator, would later show off the stick he used to score the winning goal. The game was the longest college hockey game played up to that point, and was regarded as one of the most exciting games in years.
The final hockey game of Baker's Princeton career was at Ottawa's Dey's Arena
Dey's Arena
Dey's Arena, also known as Dey Brothers Rink, Dey's Skating Rink and The Arena, were a series of ice rinks and arenas located in Ottawa, Ontario, that hold importance in the early development of the organized sport of ice hockey in Canada...
against the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
on February 28, 1914 for the Intercollegiate Hockey Championship of America. Ottawa defeated Princeton by a 3–2 score. Princeton won the 1914 national championship after they finished with a record of ten wins and three losses. Statistics were not kept of his time at Princeton, but Baker is estimated to have scored over 120 goals and 100 assists in three years, an average of three goals and three assists per game. As well as skill, Baker was known for his sportsmanship. In a hockey game against Harvard
Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey
The Harvard Crimson men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college ice hockey program that represents Harvard University. The Crimson are a member of ECAC Hockey. They play at the Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
on January 22, 1913 Baker took the only penalty
Penalty (ice hockey)
A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,...
of his collegiate career, for slashing; Princeton lost the game 5–4 in overtime. He also visited the dressing rooms of opponents after every game to shake hands with each player.
In early 1914 Baker graduated from Princeton, having majored in history, politics, and economics, and finished with above-average grades. He was named the school's best football player, hockey player, and all-round athlete and the man who had done the most for Princeton. The football team had posted a record of twenty wins, three losses, and four ties in Baker's three seasons as a member; the hockey team fared equally well with a record of twenty wins and seven losses. By the end of his football career at Princeton, he had two notable achievements: he had never fumbled a punt, and had never lost to Yale.
Post-university years
The summer after graduation, Baker toured Europe as a celebrity correspondent for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
where he wrote about events like the Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
. Through his Princeton classmates, he was given a job with Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
insurance firm Johnson & Higgins
Johnson & Higgins
Johnson & Higgins was one of the largest brokerage firms in the world until it sold out to Marsh & McLennan in 1997.-History:Initially founded in 1845 as Jones & Johnson by Walter Restored Jones, Jr. and Henry Ward Johnson, the company acquired its new name in 1854 when A. Foster Higgins replaced...
upon his return to the United States. Soon after, another Princeton graduate offered him a job at J.P. Morgan Bank
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...
. Hired onto a two-year trainee program, Baker earned about $20 per week. Baker befriended a rich New York socialite, Percy R. Pyne II, who had also attended St. Paul's and Princeton. Though ten years older than Baker, they quickly became friends and Pyne allowed Baker to stay at his house at 263 Madison Avenue. Pyne later introduced Baker to Jeanne Marie Scott, a socialite known as Mimi, to whom Baker was briefly engaged late in 1918. A quiet individual, Baker was embarrassed when bank executives brought important clients by his office to see him. He quickly tired of working in an office job, and looked for ways to alleviate his boredom.
Baker found enjoyment outside the office through sports. He joined the St. Nicholas Club
St. Nicholas Rink
The St. Nicholas Rink, also called the St. Nicholas Arena, was an indoor ice rink, and later a boxing arena in New York, New York, from 1896 until 1962. The rink was the second ice rink utilizing mechanically frozen ice for its surface in North America, , enabling a longer season for skating sports...
, an amateur hockey team in New York soon after he arrived in the city. Pyne introduced Baker to both polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
and auto racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
, sports he quickly mastered. Baker remained well known from his time at Princeton; marquees at his home arena, which was shared with Princeton, often said "Hobey Baker Plays Tonight". This made Baker uncomfortable and he eventually asked the building manager to take down the sign. Preferring a life out of the public eye, he once told a reporter that he would rather have nothing written about him. In order to leave the arena quickly after hockey games without having to deal with the public, Baker was often loaned Pyne's valet and car. Baker was offered a contract by the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
of the National Hockey Association
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League...
while he was still with the St. Nicholas Club. He turned down an offer of $20,000 to play three seasons as social conventions prohibited a person of his standing from playing sport for money.
On March 24, 1917, Baker played his last hockey game at the Winter Garden at Exposition Hall
Winter Garden at Exposition Hall
The Winter Garden at Exposition Hall was Pittsburgh's third major indoor skating rink which lasted from 1916 to 1920. It stood at the current site of Point State Park. The facility consisted of three building: Main Hall, Music Hall and Machinery Hall. The Exposition was originally supposed to be a...
in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. The game pitted an amateur all-star team from Philadelphia, led by Baker, against an all-star team from Pittsburgh's amateur leagues. The Philadelphia team defeated Pittsburgh in overtime by a score of 3–2. Baker scored all three Philadelphia goals to net a hat trick
Hat Trick
Hat trick, hat-trick or hattrick may refer to:* hat-trick — in various sports, achieving three goals, wickets, etc. in a single match* Hattrick — online football management game** Hattrick Limited — producers of this game...
. (historians and biographers had previously believed Baker's last game to have been played in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on February 22, 1917, with the St. Nicholas Skating Club). Baker began to tire of playing hockey after 1915; the constant physical focus opposing him on the ice had taken its toll, and the growing professionalism of the sport went against his belief that sports should be played for the love of the game.
World War I
Baker sought a better escape, so in 1916 he joined the civilian aviation corps, led by General Leonard Wood on Governors IslandGovernors Island
Governors Island is a island in Upper New York Bay, approximately one-half mile from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn by Buttermilk Channel. It is legally part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
off the coast of Manhattan. He often went to the island late in the afternoon after he finished work for the day. Baker found the same enjoyment in flying that he had in sports, but with a more serious aspect. Prior to the annual Yale-Princeton football game on November 18, 1916, Baker led a squadron of twelve aircraft from two fields over Palmer Stadium, home of the Princeton football team. The planes performed several maneuvers to the delight of the crowd, which at the time was the largest amount of aircraft to have ever flown in military formation. When Baker landed his plane on the field, he also became the first person to reach a football game by air.
The entry of the United States into World War I excited Baker, as it finally gave him a purpose in life and allowed him to make good use of his pilot training. He left the United States for Europe on August 23, 1917, among the first group of Americans to do so. Though eager to join the front immediately, Baker was told that he had to be certified by the French. Success in the courses was dependent on how quickly the pilots learned French, the predominant language of instruction. Though he managed to complete all the courses easily, Baker was discouraged to be sent to a school in England for training and then back to France to teach Americans what he had learned in England, in an attempt to create pilots as quickly as possible. Owing to a lack of aircraft supplies, Baker was stuck in Paris, and doubted he would ever get to the front. While in Paris, he was happy to continue seeing Mimi Scott, who had enlisted as a nurse and worked at a hospital in France.
Promoted to lieutenant in March 1918, Baker was finally sent to the front in April and assigned to the 103rd Aero Squadron
103rd Aero Squadron
The 103rd Aero Squadron was an Aero pursuit squadron which included officers from the disbanded Lafayette Escadrille, and the Lafayette Flying Corps.-History:...
, formed from former members of the Lafayette Escadrille
Lafayette Escadrille
The Lafayette Escadrille , was an escadrille of the French Air Service, the Aéronautique militaire, during World War I composed largely of American volunteer pilots flying fighters.-History:Dr. Edmund L...
and Lafayette Flying Corps
Lafayette Flying Corps
The Lafayette Flying Corps is a name used to describe the American volunteer pilots who flew for the French during World War I. It includes the pilots who flew with the bona fide Lafayette Escadrille squadron. The estimations of number of pilots range from 180 to over 300. The generally accepted...
in January 1918. Baker helped to bring down an enemy plane for the first time in his career on May 21, but due to a complicated system of confirming kills, he was not given credit for it. In a letter home describing the battle, Baker said it was the "biggest thrill I ever had in my life," and compared it to the feeling after a big sports game. Throughout the spring of 1918 Baker continued to lead planes over the front, and continued to see Scott, although he began to have reservations over their future together due to the financial disparity between them. After his first confirmed kill in May 1918, the French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
.
During the summer, Baker was transferred to the 13th Bomb Squadron
13th Bomb Squadron
The 13th Bomb Squadron is an active United States Air Force organization assigned to the 509th Operations Group, stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri...
after its commander, Charles Biddle
Charles Biddle
Charles Biddle was a Pennsylvania statesman.His father was William Biddle, 3rd , and mother was Mary Scull ....
, requested that he join the squadron as a flight commander. Though reluctant to leave the 103rd, Baker felt that Biddle would not have requested him without confidence in his abilities. On July 20, the 13th Squadron recorded its first confirmed kill during a flight led by Baker; he and two other men shot down a German plane. In August, Baker and another pilot were promoted and given command of their own squadron; Baker was given charge of the 141st Squadron
141st Air Refueling Squadron
The 141st Air Refueling Squadron flies the KC-135R Stratotanker. It is a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard. Its parent unit is the 108th Air Refueling Wing.-History:...
, composed of 26 pilots and 180 enlisted men stationed behind the front line, where they had to wait for equipment to arrive before leaving for the front.
Various delays in the arrival of planes and equipment meant that Baker's squadron was unable to participate in the final major offensives of the war. While behind the front in September, Baker became engaged to Scott. He asked Pyne to sell a bond to pay for an engagement ring, and the newspapers in the United States carried headlines that announced the engagement. Early in October, Baker was promoted again and given the rank of captain. The planes and equipment arrived for his squadron soon after. Baker had the planes painted in Princeton's black and orange and adopted a tiger for the squadron insignia. He recorded two more kills in early November, the last of his career (despite reports at the time of his death, Baker was not an ace, as that required five confirmed kills).
Around the time of the armistice which ended the war, Baker's engagement with Scott was broken off; Scott then began a relationship with an American diplomat in Paris, Philander Cable. These two events gave Baker a lack of direction in his life; he dreaded going back to work in an office and considered himself a sportsman rather than a businessman. Though he was scheduled to return to the United States in December, Baker requested and was refused an extension of his time in France.
Death
On December 21, Baker received orders to return to the United States. Reluctant to leave France and return to his life in America, he decided to take a final flight at his squadron's airfield in ToulToul
Toul is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Toul is located between Commercy and Nancy, and situated between the Moselle River and the Canal de la Marne au Rhin....
. This went against tradition and superstition for pilots, as a final flight was usually fatal. As he went for his own plane, the mechanic brought out a recently repaired one instead, in need of a test flight. The other pilots remonstrated with Baker, but he maintained that as commanding officer he could not let anyone else test the aircraft.
In heavy rain, Baker took off and began to level off at 600 feet. A quarter of a mile into the flight, the engine failed. The model of plane Baker was flying was easy to crash-land if necessary, something he had done previously at the cost of a few broken ribs. But on this flight he attempted to land at the airbase, which was made difficult by his lack of altitude, necessary to glide the plane into the hanger. A few hundred yards from the airfield, his plane crashed nose first into the ground. He was quickly freed from the aircraft by his men, but died in an ambulance minutes later; his orders to return home were found in his jacket pocket. Baker was buried in a small military cemetery near Toul, but in 1921 his mother had his remains moved to her family plot in West Laurel Hill Cemetery
West Laurel Hill Cemetery
West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the site of many notable burials, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992...
, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Newspapers reported that Baker had died as a result of engine failure, but rumors began to circulate that his death was not accidental. Those who knew him were aware of his reluctance to return to civilian life and his feelings over the loss of Scott. He could have returned to America and played professional sport, where he could have earned far more money than that of a job in finance, but his upbringing made that impossible for him. A career in business held no appeal; during a weekend vacation with a fellow Princeton graduate Baker revealed that he felt his life was over, and he would never again experience the thrills of football or hockey.
Legacy
Baker is considered one of the greatest ice hockey players of his era, and the first great American hockey player. He was one of the first twelve players inducted into the Hockey Hall of FameHockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
upon its founding in 1945, the first American so honored, and was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
United States Hockey Hall of Fame
The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the rich history of the game in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and teams....
as one of its charter members in 1973. In 1975, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
and is the only person in both the College Football and Hockey Halls of Fame. Baker was also inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame is a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., that was established in May 2002, to honor individuals and groups who are either area natives who became prominent in the field of sports or who became prominent in the field of sports in the...
in 2010.
His popularity was such that after he enlisted in the military the number of his fellow Princeton athletes who followed his lead meant that the school had to cancel its hockey team for the 1917–18 season; all five starting players enlisted in the armed forces. Of the eleven players on the team the previous season, nine enlisted shortly after Baker.
Baker was also the inspiration for literary works. In his senior year at Princeton, F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
enrolled at the university as a freshman. Though he only spoke to Baker once during their time at Princeton, Fitzgerald idolized him. His first novel, This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University...
has several references to Baker: the main character is named Amory Blaine after Baker's middle name, and the minor character Allenby is Baker himself. Mark Goodman's 1985 novel, Hurrah for the Next Man Who Dies is a fictionalized account of Baker's life.
Honors were also bestowed on Baker. General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, posthumously cited Baker on March 27, 1919, for exceptional bravery in regards to his actions on May 21, 1918, when he brought down his first plane. The Hobey Baker Award
Hobey Baker Award
The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player.It is named for hockey player and World War I veteran Hobey Baker, who played collegiately at Princeton University and learned the game at St...
was established in 1981 and is awarded annually to the best player in NCAA hockey. The Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award
Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award
The Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award is an annual award presented by the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee to honor "one of the all-time great contributors to the game of college hockey."...
was also created that year and is given to the "all-time great contributors to the game of college hockey" each year. Since 1950, Princeton has awarded the Hobey Baker Trophy to the "freshman hockey player who, among his classmates, in play, sportsmanship and influence has contributed most to the sport." When Princeton opened their hockey arena in 1921, it was named the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink
Hobey Baker Memorial Rink
Hobey Baker Memorial Rink is a 2,092-seat hockey arena in Princeton, New Jersey. It is home to the Princeton University Tigers men's and women's ice hockey teams as well as the venue for club and intramural hockey teams, intramural broomball, figure skating and recreational skating. It is the only...
. At St. Paul's, hockey players compete for an award known as Hobey's Stick. Inside the bar of the Nassau Inn in Princeton is a photo of Baker flanked by two other famous Princeton athletes, Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley
William Warren "Bill" Bradley is an American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, and former three-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in the 2000 election.Bradley was born and raised in a suburb of St....
and Dick Kazmaier
Dick Kazmaier
Richard Kazmaier was an American football player for Princeton University from 1949 through 1951 and winner of the 1951 Heisman Trophy. As a halfback, kicker and quarterback, he ended his career third all time in Princeton history with over 4000 yards of offense and 55 touchdowns...
. The Ivy Club, of which Baker was a member, has a painting of him in the living room.
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | League | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... | A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... | Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... | PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1906–07 | St. Paul's School St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire) St. Paul's School is a highly selective college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school is one of only six remaining 100% residential boarding schools in the U.S. The New Hampshire campus currently serves 533 students,... |
High School | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1907–08 | St. Paul's School | High School | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1908–09 | St. Paul's School | High School | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1909–10 | St. Paul's School | High School | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1911–12 | Princeton Tigers | Ivy League Ivy League The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group... |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1912–13 | Princeton Tigers | Ivy League | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1913–14 | Princeton Tigers | Ivy League | 11 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1914–15 | St. Nicholas Club St. Nicholas Rink The St. Nicholas Rink, also called the St. Nicholas Arena, was an indoor ice rink, and later a boxing arena in New York, New York, from 1896 until 1962. The rink was the second ice rink utilizing mechanically frozen ice for its surface in North America, , enabling a longer season for skating sports... |
AAHL American Amateur Hockey League The American Amateur Hockey League was an ice hockey league in the United States. The league was founded in 1896, and was based solely in New York City, until 1914, when the Boston AA joined the league... |
8 | 17 | 0 | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1915–16 | St. Nicholas Club | AAHL | 7 | 9 | 0 | 9 | — | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | ||
| AAHL totals | 15 | 26 | 0 | 26 | — | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | ||||
Statistics from Total Hockey,
NHL
| Award | Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Lester Patrick Trophy Lester Patrick Trophy The Lester Patrick Trophy has been presented by the National Hockey League and USA Hockey since 1966 to honor a recipient's contribution to ice hockey in the United States. It is considered a non-NHL trophy because it may be awarded to players, coaches, officials, and other personnel outside the NHL... |
1987 (Posthumous) |