Michael James Baab is a former American 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...

 center

Center (American football)

Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...

 who played eleven seasons in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

, mainly with the Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

.

Early years

Raised in Euless

Euless, Texas

Euless, known as "Tree City USA," is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Fort Worth. Euless is part of the Mid-Cities between Dallas and Fort Worth...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, he graduated from Trinity High School

Trinity High School (Euless, Texas)

Trinity High School is a public high school in Euless, Texas. It administers grade levels 10–12 and is a part of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District....

 in 1978. Consensus All-State and All-American honors came his senior year of 1978. While attending the University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

 from 1978–1981, Mike was voted team captain by his Longhorn

Texas Longhorns football

The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate football team representing The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. The team currently competes in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big 12 Conference which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National...

 teammates. He received All-Southwest Conference and second team All-American honors in 1981.

NFL

Baab was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the 5th round of the 1982 NFL Draft

1982 NFL Draft

The 1982 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 27–28, 1982...

, the 115th overall pick. He played for the Browns from 1982 to 1987, the New England Patriots

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

 in 1988 and 1989, the Browns again in 1990 and 1991, and finished his career with the Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...

 in 1992.

Personal life

After retiring from football, Baab moved to the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Highland Games

Highland games

Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &(-è_çà in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain...

 for competition. He won the Masters World Championship in the 45-49 age class in 2005.

Baab is married to his college sweetheart Lolis (who won the prize of prettiest girl on campus at UT and was a runner-up Mrs. USA). They live in South Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 with their daughters Micaela, who graduated from St. Edwards University with a double major in Theater/makeup, and Larissa, who attends Bowie High School

Bowie High School (Austin, Texas)

James Bowie High School is a public high school in southwest Austin, Texas. With an estimated student body of 3,000, and a campus sitting on , Bowie is the largest school in the Austin Independent School District and also the largest secondary school in Central Texas...

 with a love for volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

/basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

/track

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, writing

Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

, and theater. Baab works as a personal trainer and fitness coach (Mike Baab Fitness), and is the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Texas Hockey Club. His interests include rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, weight training

Weight training

Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...

, spending time with the girls, and science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

.