Baker College history

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1922, Blair was appointed to a position at Brownwood High School where he coached baseball and basketball, taught math for two years and then served one year as principal of the Junior High School.

In June 1925, Robert Edgar Blair was named Athletic Director and Coach at Daniel Baker College, a position he held for nine years.

Weldon Chambers, a Brownwood High School basketball star, came to Daniel Baker in 1926.

After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929, he taught and coached at Williams, Woodland Heights, May and Goldthwaite during which time he earned a master’s degree from Hardin Simmons University.

Early gifts to the University: Big clock in the gymnasium tower, bell tower west of Old Science Hall, cement tennis court, and a large gift in 1930 on the Million Dollar Endowment Campaign

While at DBC, he was among the nation’s top sprinters and in winning the Texas Intercollegiate Conference Championship in 1931, he set records of 9.3 seconds in the 100-yard dash and 21.3 in the 220-yard dash.

The mascot had returned, and for the first time since 1932, the Hillbilly football team moved into the win column.

Hubert enrolled at DBC in the fall of 1933 at a time when freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition in the Texas Conference, but playing a tough freshman schedule, Davenport and forty other first year players quickly established themselves as the future powerhouse in the new conference.

By action of the student body at the pep rally on October 26, 1934, the goat was formally christened and from that day to now—the symbol of the Daniel Baker Spirit is Billy Baker.

After graduation from DBC, he spent a summer as a minor league pitcher in the St Louis Browns’ system, but it was back to football in the fall of 1937.

Jones eventually confessed to the killing, and the endowment for the Rice Institute reached the right hands.Captain Baker went on to oversee the creation of what is now Rice University and served as the first Chairman of the Board of Trustees until his death in 1941.

Stan Burnham grew up in San Saba, Texas and he played football and other sports for the San Saba Armadillos until he graduated in 1942.

Following graduation, he coached at Sipe Springs for one year, and in the fall of 1943, he moved to Olden as head football coach.

After serving his country for two years, he accepted a position with Southland Life Insurance Company in 1946, and began a successful career that has carried through fifty-four productive years.

He came to DBC in 1947 with a young wife, a baby daughter and with definite goals in mind…to perform well in athletics, to earn a college degree, and in the process to learn as much as possible about how to become a successful coach.

He was a champion bull rider and bareback broncobuster and was named best all-around cowboy of the 1950 DBC Rodeo.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 1951, Jack accepted a job as assistant coach at Floydada where he served for two years under his former high school mentor, the late Preston Watson.

John Mac Miller died in 1952 at the age of 43.

He lettered and started for the jackets for two years, before receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in education at the end of the fall semester in January 1953.He then promptly married his college sweetheart and moved to Wichita Falls and a job with Pan American Geophysical Company.

In 1955, Killeen’s School Board started a search for an experienced, people-oriented principal who could provide leadership to a large high school with a rapidly growing student body.

Baker was established as one of the four original residential colleges at Rice in the fall of 1957.

He trained as a multi-engine pilot and graduated from Squadron Officer School in 1958.

In 1959, they purchased Lee’s Credit Jewelers, which they have owned and operated over the past forty-seven years, and Hubert still goes to work every day, Monday through Saturday.

During his years as a coach and teacher Bill prepared himself for a career in public school administration; having completed a master’s degree in education at Howard Payne University in 1962.

In 1964, after a four-year venture in private business, Preston returned to public school education and served for ten years as athletic director and assistant principal.

1965 Robert Jewell purchased Flint’s Baker Business University and brought both schools under a single management group.

In 1966, he achieved a life-long dream when he was commissioned a Texas Ranger and over the next fifteen years, he rose to the rank of captain with responsibility for a sixty county area in the Texas Panhandle.

In 1967, DBC’s Ex-Students Association established the Distinguished Alumnus Award, and Sam was the first recipient.

1969 Muskegon College became a non-profit corporation.

At the end of the war, O. B. returned to his role as an educator but remained in the U. S. Army Reserve and retired in 1972 at the rank of Lt.

In 1974, Fort Worth teams won the state championships in golf, tennis and track.

1977 Baker Junior College became a non-profit cor­po­ration.

In 1981, he was promoted to the rank of major and Assistant Chief of the Law-enforcement Division of the Department of Public Safety with administrative responsibility for the Texas Rangers, Narcotics Services, Criminal Intelligence, and the Motor Vehicle Theft Division.

1983 The Owosso extension of Baker Junior College was established on the property of the former John Wesley College.

1985 After each receiving regional accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the three campuses merged to form the Baker College System.

Muskegon College began offering extension classes in Cadillac.1986 The Baker College System was authorized to grant a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.

The School of Professional and Graduate Studies was formed in 1988.

1990 Baker College acquired locations in Pontiac, Mount Clemens, and Port Huron, forming Baker College of Eastern Michigan.

1991 The Cadillac extension of Baker College of Muskegon opened a new 40-acre campus site.

He later went on to become Southwest Texas State’s Director of Athletics where he served with distinction until his retirement in 1992.

1994 The Center for Graduate Studies opened in Flint, launching the System’s first graduate degree program.

1996 Baker College began offering online classes to students throughout the United States and in foreign countries.

1997 Baker College of Muskegon moved to a new 40-acre site.

2000 Baker College of Mount Clemens became Baker College of Clinton Township and began offering an Associate of Nursing degree.

2001 Record enrollment was achieved with more than 21,000 students across the System.