Norman Henry Baker was a Canadian basketball and lacrosse player. He was voted the top basketball player in Canada in the first half of the 20th century in a Canadian Press poll in 1950.
Baker began playing basketball at the age of 10 for the Nanaimo Mosquitoes. At age 16, he joined the Victoria Dominoes and became the youngest player to be part of a Canadian senior national basketball championship team. Later on, he won two more national titles with the Dominoes in 1942 and 1946.
| Position | Point Guard |
| Born | 17 Feb 1923 |
| Nationality |
United States
|
| Nickname | Norm |
Whilst in the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was a member of the 1943 national champion Pat Bay Gremlins and scored 38 points in one game against the Windsor Patricks, which was a record that time.
Professionally, he played with the Chicago Stags in 1946 and signed a 4,800 dollars deal to play in Chicago after ignoring an invitation to join the Toronto Huskies. With the Stags, he wore jersey 16 and appeared in four games.
Most of the 1946-47 season of Baker was spent with the Vancouver Hornets of the Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League, where he finished second in scoring 694 points in 37 games. In April 1947, he played for the Portland Indians in the ninth annual World Professional Basketball Tournament.
During the off season of basketball, Baker played lacrosse with the New Westminster Adanacs and won the Mann Cup national championship in October 1947 with three game sweep of the Mimico Mountaineers.
In 1950, Baker was the only non American on a basketball team of college all stars billed as the stars of the world for 13 nation tour of Europe and Africa whilst playing against the Harlem Globetrotters. After his career in basketball, he worked as a police officer and even coached for lacrosse and basketball. He died at age 66 in Victoria.
Career highlights
Baker has been inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1966, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1978, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in1979, and the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
