Earl Baker Ruth (February 7, 1916 – August 15, 1989) was a three-term U.S. Representative from North Carolina and subsequently served as governor of American Samoa.

While at UNC, Chapel Hill Ruth was a basketball standout, serving as captain of the Tar Heel team in both his Junior and Senior years (1936–37 and 1937–38).

Ruth was head basketball coach and director of athletics at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina from 1946 to 1960.

Within eighteen months, Ruth had removed numerous Samoans in administrative posts, who had been appointed by former Governor John Morse Haydon.

In 2012, the North Carolina Department of Transportation named a section of U.S. 601 in Rowan County "Congressman Earl Ruth Highway" in his honor.