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Eagles
Dedicate Stadium to Former Board Member
Jodi Weber
Three years
after his death, Northeast Texas Community College is renaming the Eagle
baseball stadium after loyal contributor Bob Baker.
"This is a great opportunity for the college to honor a man whose life was
dedicated to service. He was a friend to many and worked hard to help make NTCC
the success it is today," Jon McCullough, NTCC vice president for Institutional
Advancement, said.
Members of the Baker family will participate in the ceremony.
"The college was a dream of
Bobby's and a lot of other people. I like to say that they had a dream and a cow
pasture back then," said Bobby's wife, Jackie Baker.
As a member of the original steering committee and a charter member of the NTCC
board of trustees, Baker worked tirelessly to see that cow pasture turned into
the award-winning community college that stands today.
"He was involved with the college from the very beginning. I remember when the
steering committee would meet at Bob's office because they didn't have anywhere
else to go," Jackie said.
Baker was also passionate about baseball. Having played the sport in high school
and then later while he served in the United States Army in Japan, it was no
wonder that Bob was instrumental in helping to form the NTCC Eagle baseball
program.
"Bob's first priority was
getting the college built n but his second priority was the baseball team," said
Pat Sisk, personal friend of Bob's.
Sisk and Bob also coached Dixie Baseball together in the early 1970s.
Fortunately, his efforts were rewarded and NTCC had its first baseball team in
1992. Only four years later, in 1996, the Eagle baseball team went on to win the
NJCAA National Championships.
"Bob went to all of the NTCC games he could. He was just thrilled when they won
the World Series n he was thrilled with everything they did," Jackie said.
It was that love and dedication to Eagle baseball that made Bob a good candidate
to have the baseball stadium named after him.
"I think it's awfully fitting
that the baseball stadium is going to be named after Bob. There's not another
person who deserves the honor more than him," Sisk said.
According to Jackie, Bob would be happy to know he is remembered so fondly.
"I know that if Bob was looking down here to see the stadium named after him
he'd say ‘I don't deserve it but I'm very proud.' He was a humble man but he
loved that college," Jackie said.
Bob was born in Beaumont in 1933. He graduated from South Park High School and
received a bachelor's degree in accounting from Lamar University in Beaumont.
With the exception of a stint in the military and a brief stop in Bartlesville,
Oklahoma, Bob lived in Texas his whole life. He married Jackie in 1954 while he
was still in the Army.
"We wanted to wait until he was out of the service, but we decided to go ahead
and get married," Jackie said. The couple had a daughter, Lauren, in 1958.
The Baker family moved from Beaumont to Mount Pleasant in 1967 and ended up
staying on permanently.
"My cousin, Judge Bill Moye, lived in Mount Pleasant and was instrumental in
getting us to move here. We also wanted our daughter to grow up in a small town
with small schools," Jackie said.
Bob was a partner in the Baker and Johnson CPA firm in Mount Pleasant and spent
much of his free time working for community organizations. At various times he
was president of the Optimist Club, Rotary Club, and the Mount Pleasant/Titus
County Chamber of Commerce.
He also served on the board of directors for Cypress Basin Hospice and was
honored posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement award by the Chamber of
Commerce. He also served as an elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Mount
Pleasant and was church treasurer for 15 years.
"He was always involved in civic work," Jackie said. "Sometimes I would
selfishly ask him ‘Bobby, why don't you drop some of these things?' and he would
just say that someone needs to do them."
Those who were close to Bob knew that working in the community was just part of
who he was.
"Bob was a good man in every respect. He was a good church man and he was
involved in the community. He was always interested in helping people n
particularly young people," Sisk said.
Baker passed away on December 14, 2003 n just two months before he and Jackie
would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Jackie remembers being
amazed at the show of love and support from the community following Bob's death.
"People were showing up at my door before the church even knew that he was
gone," she said.
To Sisk, this was not surprising.
"There's not another family in this area that has more friends than Bob and
Jackie Baker," he said. As Bob's friends and family gather to celebrate his
memory through the baseball field, his many good deeds will be remembered.
"He was just a friend to everyone. He always had a smile on his face and lit up
any room he came into," Jackie said.
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