DeKALB — Invoice Baker nearly all the time did as he was informed whereas rising up in Chicago.
Clear your room. Be dwelling earlier than the streetlights come on. Go to mattress.
Sure, Mother. Sure, Dad.
There was one exception, nonetheless. As a substitute of conking out when he was imagined to, Baker crawled underneath the blankets and clicked on the little transistor radio he stashed underneath the pillow.
Not solely might Baker hearken to the soothing voice of Cubs play-by-play man Jack Quinlan, however he quickly found stations from all around the Midwest.
“I began listening and realized, ‘Hey, this dial strikes!’ ” Baker stated. “KMOX in St. Louis? I dwell at 3404 Polk St. in Chicago. How the hell am I listening to this?
“KDKA in Pittsburgh. WBZ in Atlanta. WJR in Detroit. KXEL in Waterloo, Iowa, would are available in. I am fascinated by this.”
Quickly sufficient, the self-described “radio junkie” realized he needed to emulate Quinlan’s supply and produce the sounds of the sports activities world into dwelling rooms, bedrooms and cars.
For the previous 44 years, Baker’s carried out precisely that for Northern Illinois College as the college’s soccer and basketball announcer. His exceptional run concludes when the footall season ends. He isn’t broadcasting basketball this 12 months.
“That is going to be tradition shock,” stated Mike Korcek, NIU’s Sports activities Info Director from 1984-2006. “He is known as hundreds of video games. He is had a fantastic run.”
One with so many nice recollections that when requested to recount his favorites, Baker laughed and stated: “You do not have sufficient area. There are highlights I’ve forgotten.”
Absolutely, some would come with the 1983 California Bowl, QB Stacey Robinson operating for 308 yards in a 73-18 victory over No. 20 Fresno State in 1990, LeShon Johnson breaking the Kinnick Stadium document with 306 yards at Iowa in 1993, a exceptional 63-60 win at Toledo in 2011, and NIU hanging with Florida State for 3 quarters within the 2013 Orange Bowl.
Basketball highlights embrace NCAA appearances in 1982, 1991 and 1996.
Of all the large moments, there’s one which has been etched in Baker’s thoughts since Day One.
“The one I’ll all the time bear in mind was my very first play,” Baker stated of NIU’s opener at Lengthy Seashore State in 1980. “Lengthy Seashore kicked off and the ball settled into the fingers of Mike Pinkney at concerning the 3-yard line. I imply I can level to you the place he went and the way he obtained into the top zone.
“Ninety-seven yards. Landing. Not even a snap. The very first play I ever known as in a Division I soccer sport, and I knew proper then and there I’d always remember it. And I have never.”
Taking root
Baker’s affiliation with NIU started within the Nineteen Seventies when visiting the love of his life, Karen Wiersema. The couple married in 1973 and lived at DeKalb’s Excessive Meadows Flats — simply south of Huskie Stadium — till she graduated in 1974.
Baker was getting his toes moist within the radio enterprise by calling highschool video games for WKKD, however he made most of his cash driving a Schlitz truck in Sycamore.
“You make some nice cash on that beer truck,” Baker stated. “I imply I noticed my first couple of checks and thought, ‘There is a mistake right here.'”
In 1977 just a few higher-ups from WKKD requested Baker to go to downtown Yorkville for some beer and pizza.
Because it turned out, they have been ambushing him.
Come work for us full time. Promote promoting and name video games on the weekend. Take a look at what you may make!
“Yeah, however here is what I’m making,” Baker informed them. “And it doesn’t contain getting in entrance of individuals attempting to promote radio.”
Ultimately, although, Baker caved.
“After the second pitcher they weakened me,” he chuckled.
Signing on
Three years later, Baker’s large break arrived. Whereas working the IHSA state championship, the proprietor of WHRL in Rochelle approached Baker within the tunnel to inform him NIU was restarting its radio community.
Baker’s thoughts instantly began racing: I might work for NIU. Division I athletics. Karen’s alma mater. The place I really like the campus, the folks, the athletes. I would be dwelling.
“From a job standpoint, I needed it greater than anything I would ever needed,” Baker stated. “The remainder of that weekend was torture. I needed to wait till Monday morning earlier than I might name anyone about it.
“I am considering, ‘How many individuals are going to be in line for this job?'”
Baker had loads of connections at this level and he knew Bud Nangle, NIU’s sports activities data director on the time. Nangle steered getting tapes within the fingers of Jerry Ippoliti, who was NIU’s soccer coach from 1971-75 however was now some extent man for beginning the radio community.
Baker known as weekly for updates. Lastly, the agonizing wait ended when Ippoliti scheduled a gathering and provided Baker the job.
After shaking fingers, Ippoliti regarded Baker sq. within the eyes and stated: “One final thing. We’re not seeking to be a steppingstone. We would like any individual who’s going to be right here.”
After a short pause, Ippoliti exclaimed: “Twenty years!”
Ippoliti had nothing to fret about. Baker nearly all the time does as he is informed.
Why go away?
Baker might have needed to emulate Jack Quinlan — who tragically handed away in a automobile accident in 1965 — however his type can also be just like Pat Hughes, the present Corridor of Fame radio voice of the Chicago Cubs. Baker and Hughes are akin to that loving uncle who welcomes you over to look at a sport.
C’mon in. Have a seat. Let’s have a beer, a canine and I will describe the motion in such element that you can see it together with your eyes closed.
It is an uncommon expertise few have. And it makes one marvel — did Baker ever dream of calling video games for Northwestern, Notre Dame or Michigan. Or to maneuver on to the NFL or NBA?
The brief reply is possibly a bit of. Baker did have three probabilities to depart — twice when different faculties reached out and one other when the USFL’s Denver Gold known as in 1983.
However Baker, who now resides in Montgomery, stayed due to household. His spouse was educating and the household did not wish to transfer.
“And I by no means thought these renegade leagues would make it,” Baker stated.
Of all of the calls Baker’s made, maybe that was the wisest one: The USFL folded in 1985.
Signing off
Baker is not certain how he’ll shut his remaining NIU broadcast, and he admitted it has been weighing on him a bit.
“That is the one factor I’ve considered: How I would say goodbye. How I would end it,” Baker stated. “Is it going to be, ‘Thanks so very a lot for listening. So lengthy everyone.’
“Nicely, you realize, there may very well be a subsequent time. I do not know. Possibly they’re going to ask me to come back again in the event that they want any individual to fill in. In the event that they do, nice. If they do not, it is not going to harm my emotions.”
This exit is one thing NIU and Baker put into movement 2½ years in the past, and he has no regrets that the top is close to. Over the many years, Baker has missed his daughters’ tennis matches and softball video games; mum or dad/trainer conferences; weddings and funerals; and he is spent Christmas in San Diego, Thanksgiving in Anchorage, Alaska, and New Yr’s Eve in Bangor, Maine.
“I do not see how these 44 years might have been any higher — aside from just a few extra wins right here and there throughout essential moments,” Baker stated. “This place is straightforward to fall in love with. The folks you’re employed with …
Baker pauses and sighs deeply earlier than persevering with: “Why transfer? Why go anyplace else? I used to be doing what I needed to do. I used to be doing it the place I needed to do it. Supported my household and that is why I am right here.
One other pause. “No Denver Gold.”
Certainly. As a result of Baker’s fields of gold have been all the time deeply planted at NIU.
