- John Baker, Jr.
NFL player
DateOfBirth=June 10 1935
Birthplace=Raleigh, North Carolina
DateOfDeath=October 31 2007
Position=DL
College=North Carolina Central
DraftedYear=1958
DraftedRound=5/ Pick 56
DatabaseFootball=BAKERJOH01
PFR=
Awards=
Records
years=1958-1961
1962
1963-1967
1968
teams=Los Angeles RamsPhiladelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers Detroit Lions
ProBowls=
HOF=John Haywood Baker, Jr. (
June 10 1935 –October 31 2007 ), nicknamed "Big John," was an Americandefensive lineman in theNational Football League who played for four teams from 1958 to 1968. He later served assheriff ofWake County, North Carolina from 1978 to 2002, becoming the firstAfrican American sheriff inNorth Carolina since the Reconstruction era.cite news |first=Thomasi |last=McDonald |title=Former Wake Sheriff John Baker dies |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/news/wake/story/755487.html |work=The News & Observer |pages= |page= |date=2007-10-31 |accessdate=2007-10-31 ]Born in
Raleigh, North Carolina , Baker was the son of John H. Baker, Sr., the city's first African American police officer, who at one time served as sergeant-at-arms for the city council. The Younger Baker attended Raleigh's Washington and Ligon High Schools andNorth Carolina Central University (where he was a teammate ofHerman Boone ), and was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the fifth round of the1958 NFL Draft . Over eleven seasons he played for the Rams (1958-61),Philadelphia Eagles (1962),Pittsburgh Steelers (1963-67) andDetroit Lions (1968). He was inducted into theNorth Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.After he retired from the NFL, he worked as an aide for then-U.S. Senator Robert Morgan, sat on the state
Parole Commission, and worked on the state campaign forJimmy Carter in 1976. In 1978, Baker ran for sheriff of Wake County and won, holding the position for 24 years. In 2002 Baker was defeated for re-election as sheriff, and he was also unsuccessful in a 2006 run to regain his office. He died in 2007, one month after both he and his father were inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Wake County Public Safety Center was renamed in his memory. [ [http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1219061.html News & Observer: Building to get longtime sheriff's name today] . Retrieved on Sept. 15, 2008.]References
External links
* [http://www.newsobserver.com/news/wake/story/756491.html News & Observer: Law enforcement pioneer dies at 72]
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