Eugene Vanvoy Baker (c. 1854 – October 16, 1942) was a pioneer

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and coach for the Yale Bulldogs of Yale University. Playing alongside Walter Camp, he was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the

1876 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. * February 2 – The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs i ...

and

1877 Events January–March * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed ''Empress of India'' by the ''Royal Titles Act 1876'', introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great Sio ...

teams, which includes the first Yale team to defeat

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. A plaque in Yale's trophy room read "In Recognition of the Services of Eugene V. Baker, '77 The Organizer and Captain of Yale's First Victorious Football Team This Room Has been Furnished and The Tablet Placed Here By His Classmates 1893." He later became a major land developer in California, first as a bookkeeper for the San Gabriel Valley Land & Water Company. Photographs of the Baker family is in the Hargrett Library of the University of Georgia Libraries."

Early years

Baker was born to Obadiah (later Orrin) S. Baker and his wife Sarah. Orrin's mother was a descendant of Stephen Hopkins of the '' Mayflower''. Eugene's father Orrin was an

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

and Civil War veteran who defended

Henry Wirz Henry Wirz (born Hartmann Heinrich Wirz, November 25, 1823 – November 10, 1865) was a Swiss-American officer of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was the commandant of the stockade of Camp Sumter, a Confederate pr ...

. Later in life Orrin suffered from delusions, and died from exhaustion "a hopeless, mentally deranged, prisoner."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Eugene V. 19th-century players of American football American football running backs Yale Bulldogs football players Players of American football from Los Angeles 1942 deaths 1850s births