John Baker, Jr.

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John Baker, Jr.
Date of birth:	June 10, 1935
Place of birth:	Raleigh, North Carolina
Date of death:	October 31, 2007
Career information
Position(s):	DL
College:	North Carolina Central
NFL Draft:	1958 / Round: 5/ Pick 56
Organizations
As player:
1958-1961 1962 1963-1967 1968	Los Angeles Rams Philadelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers Detroit Lions
Stats at DatabaseFootball.com

John Haywood Baker, Jr. (June 10, 1935 – October 31, 2007), nicknamed "Big John," was an American defensive lineman in the National Football League who played for four teams from 1958 to 1968. He later served as sheriff of Wake County, North Carolina from 1978 to 2002, becoming the first African American sheriff in North Carolina since the Reconstruction era.^[1]

Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Baker was the son of John H. Baker, Sr., the city's first African American police officer, who at one time served as sergeant-at-arms for the city council.^[1] The Younger Baker attended Raleigh's Washington and Ligon High Schools and North Carolina Central University (where he was a teammate of Herman Boone), and was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the fifth round of the 1958 NFL Draft. Over eleven seasons he played for the Rams (1958-61), Philadelphia Eagles (1962), Pittsburgh Steelers (1963-67) and Detroit Lions (1968). He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.

After he retired from the NFL, he worked as an aide for then-U.S. Senator Robert Morgan, sat on the state Parole Commission, and worked on the state campaign for Jimmy Carter in 1976. In 1978, Baker ran for sheriff of Wake County and won, holding the position for 24 years. In 2002 Baker was defeated for re-election as sheriff, and he was also unsuccessful in a 2006 run to regain his office. He died in 2007, one month after both he and his father were inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame.^[1]