Ralph "Moon" Baker (June 28, 1902 – August 3, 1977) was an American football halfback in college. Was the team captain of the

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

football team, leading them to the Big Ten championship in 1926. Baker was an All-American along with teammate Bob Johnson. Inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1981. Baker, a native of Rockford, Illinois, played one year at Illinois (alongside

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees ...

) before transferring to Northwestern. He played both football and basketball for three years. After years as the conference doormat, the football team rallied behind Baker's "triple threat" abilities to a second-place finish in 1925 and the conference title in 1926. (Source: Press Release (no title), National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame, 28 January 1981) He once said his greatest thrill was the day he kicked two field goals against Notre Dame. "The Four Horsemen were playing for them then, you know," he said. The sophomore drop-kicked field goals of 34 and 36 yards in the 1924 game at Soldier Field in Chicago to give his upstart Wildcats the lead. However, the Irish rallied to win the game 13-6. Baker's school record of seven field goals in one season stood until the 1960s. (Source: Rockford ''Register-Star'', "Moon Baker: Former Northwestern All-American was 'happy-go-lucky, determined and strong', 18 September 1977, Page F3)

Myths and Legends

Baker is occasionally reported to have been a member of

Curly Lambeau Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau (April 9, 1898 – June 1, 1965) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). Lambeau, along with his friend and fellow Green Bay, Wisconsin native George Whitney Cal ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the 1931 season. However, it is likely he is in those instances being confused with fellow Northwestern alumnus and

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...

brother Frank Baker. Apparently unrelated to Ralph Baker, Frank Baker played varsity football at Northwestern in 1928, 1929 and 1930, as well as two games at end for the Packers in 1931. (Sources: Northwestern University Archives, "Frank L. Baker (1909-1985) Scrapbook, ca. 1924-1933, Series 31/6/53, retrieved 21 July 2007;
Green Bay Packers History: All Time Roster
retrieved 21 July 2007) Less mystery surrounds his nickname, however. "Do you remember

Moon Mullins ''Moon Mullins'' is an American comic strip which had a run as both a daily and Sunday feature from June 19, 1923 to June 2, 1991. Syndicated by the Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate, the strip depicts the lives of diverse lowbrow characte ...

?" he asked in a 1951 interview, referring to the famous comic strip. "Well, I knew

Frank Willard Frank Henry Willard (September 21, 1893 in Anna, Illinois – January 11, 1958 in Los Angeles, California), was a cartoonist best known for his syndicated newspaper comic strip ''Moon Mullins'' which ran from 1923 to 1991, working alongside assist ...

, the cartoonist. Every day I used to grab the hicago Tribunein the fraternity house, and I read the cartoon before I looked at sports or anything else." (Source: Rockford ''Register-Star'', "Moon Baker: Former Northwestern All-American was 'happy-go-lucky, determined and strong', 18 September 1977, Page F3)

References

1902 births 1977 deaths American football halfbacks Northwestern Wildcats football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Rochelle, Illinois Sportspeople from the Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois Players of American football from Rockford, Illinois {{runningback-1900s-stub