The voice of NIU: After 44 years, Baker hanging up the microphone for the Huskies
DeKALB - Bill Baker almost always did as he was told while growing up in Chicago.
Clean your room. Be home before the streetlights come on. Go to bed.
Yes, Mom. Yes, Dad.
There was one exception, however. Instead of conking out when he was supposed to, Baker crawled under the blankets and clicked on the little transistor radio he stashed under the pillow.
Not only could Baker listen to the soothing voice of Cubs play-by-play man Jack Quinlan, but he soon discovered stations from all over the Midwest.
"I started listening and realized, 'Hey, this dial moves!' " Baker said. "KMOX in St. Louis? I live at 3404 Polk St. in Chicago. How the hell am I hearing this?
"KDKA in Pittsburgh. WBZ in Atlanta. WJR in Detroit. KXEL in Waterloo, Iowa, would come in. I'm fascinated by this."
Soon enough, the self-described "radio junkie" realized he wanted to emulate Quinlan's delivery and bring the sounds of the sports world into living rooms, bedrooms and automobiles.
For the past 44 years, Baker's done exactly that for Northern Illinois University as the school's football and basketball announcer. His remarkable run concludes after the footall season ends. He is not broadcasting basketball this year.
"This is going to be culture shock," said Mike Korcek, NIU's Sports Information Director from 1984-2006. "He's called thousands of games. He's had a great run."
One with so many great memories that when asked to recount his favorites, Baker laughed and said: "You don't have enough space. There are highlights I've forgotten."
Surely, some would include the 1983 California Bowl, QB Stacey Robinson running for 308 yards in a 73-18 victory over No. 20 Fresno State in 1990, LeShon Johnson breaking the Kinnick Stadium record with 306 yards at Iowa in 1993, a remarkable 63-60 win at Toledo in 2011, and NIU hanging with Florida State for three quarters in the 2013 Orange Bowl.
Basketball highlights include NCAA appearances in 1982, 1991 and 1996.
Of all the big moments, there's one that has been etched in Baker's mind since Day One.
"The one I will always remember was my very first play," Baker said of NIU's opener at Long Beach State in 1980. "Long Beach kicked off and the ball settled into the hands of Mike Pinkney at about the 3-yard line. I mean I can point to you where he went and how he got into the end zone.
"Ninety-seven yards. Touchdown. Not even a snap. The very first play I ever called in a Division I football game, and I knew right then and there I would never forget it. And I haven't."
Taking root
Baker's association with NIU began in the 1970s when visiting the love of his life, Karen Wiersema. The couple married in 1973 and lived at DeKalb's High Meadows Apartments - just south of Huskie Stadium - until she graduated in 1974.
Baker was getting his feet wet in the radio business by calling high school games for WKKD, but he made most of his money driving a Schlitz truck in Sycamore.
"You make some great money on that beer truck," Baker said. "I mean I saw my first couple of checks and thought, 'There's a mistake here.'"
In 1977 a few higher-ups from WKKD asked Baker to go to downtown Yorkville for some beer and pizza.
As it turned out, they were ambushing him.
Come work for us full time. Sell advertising and call games on the weekend. Look at what you could make!
"Yeah, but here's what I am making," Baker told them. "And it does not involve going in front of people trying to sell radio."
Eventually, though, Baker caved.
"After the second pitcher they weakened me," he chuckled.
Signing on
Three years later, Baker's big break arrived. While working the IHSA state championship, the owner of WHRL in Rochelle approached Baker in the tunnel to tell him NIU was restarting its radio network.
Baker's mind immediately started racing: I could work for NIU. Division I athletics. Karen's alma mater. Where I love the campus, the people, the athletes. I'd be home.
"From a job standpoint, I wanted it more than anything else I'd ever wanted," Baker said. "The rest of that weekend was torture. I had to wait until Monday morning before I could call anybody about it.
"I'm thinking, 'How many people are going to be in line for this job?'"
Baker had plenty of connections at this point and he knew Bud Nangle, NIU's sports information director at the time. Nangle suggested getting tapes in the hands of Jerry Ippoliti, who was NIU's football coach from 1971-75 but was now a point man for starting the radio network.
Baker called weekly for updates. Finally, the agonizing wait ended when Ippoliti scheduled a meeting and offered Baker the job.
After shaking hands, Ippoliti looked Baker square in the eyes and said: "One last thing. We're not looking to be a steppingstone. We want somebody who's going to be here."
After a brief pause, Ippoliti exclaimed: "Twenty years!"
Ippoliti had nothing to worry about. Baker almost always does as he's told.
Why leave?
Baker may have wanted to emulate Jack Quinlan - who tragically passed away in a car accident in 1965 - but his style is also similar to Pat Hughes, the current Hall of Fame radio voice of the Chicago Cubs. Baker and Hughes are akin to that loving uncle who welcomes you over to watch a game.
C'mon in. Have a seat. Let's have a beer, a dog and I'll describe the action in such detail that you'll be able to see it with your eyes closed.
It's an unusual talent few have. And it makes one wonder - did Baker ever dream of calling games for Northwestern, Notre Dame or Michigan. Or to move on to the NFL or NBA?
The short answer is maybe a little. Baker did have three chances to depart - twice when other colleges reached out and another when the USFL's Denver Gold called in 1983.
But Baker, who now resides in Montgomery, stayed because of family. His wife was teaching and the family didn't want to move.
"And I never thought those renegade leagues would make it," Baker said.
Of all the calls Baker's made, perhaps that was the wisest one: The USFL folded in 1985.
Signing off
NIU won its final regular season game Saturday over Kent State, which means the Huskies have one more contest remaining in a still-to-be determined bowl game. Baker isn't sure how he'll close that broadcast, and he admitted it's been weighing on him a bit.
"That's the only thing I've thought about: How I'd say goodbye. How I'd finish it," Baker said. "Is it going to be, 'Thanks so very much for listening. So long everybody.'
"Well, you know, there could be a next time. I don't know. Maybe they'll ask me to come back if they need somebody to fill in. If they do, great. If they don't, it's not going to hurt my feelings."
This exit is something NIU and Baker put into motion 2½ years ago, and he has no regrets that the end is near. Over the decades, Baker has missed his daughters' tennis matches and softball games; parent/teacher conferences; weddings and funerals; and he's spent Christmas in San Diego, Thanksgiving in Anchorage, Alaska, and New Year's Eve in Bangor, Maine.
"I don't see how these 44 years could have been any better - except for a few more wins here and there during crucial moments," Baker said. "This place is easy to fall in love with. The people you work with ...
Baker pauses and sighs deeply before continuing: "Why move? Why go anywhere else? I was doing what I wanted to do. I was doing it where I wanted to do it. Supported my family and that's why I'm here.
Another pause. "No Denver Gold."
Indeed. Because Baker's fields of gold were always deeply planted at NIU.