Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, his family moved to Oakland, California when he was 1 year of age.

Baxter went on to skate professionally with the Ice Capades, working with Sonja Henie in her shows.

[4] Skippy and his brother Meryl Baxter owned an ice rink in Santa Rosa, California on Summerfield Road, where the famous cartoonist Charles Schulz would take his family for skating lessons.

Baxter choreographed a segment for the 1969 animated film A Boy Named Charlie Brown, in which Snoopy skates.

[6] (men's singles) (pairs with Stenuf) Lloyd Baxter, having endured an accident as a youth with a tractor, which almost resulted in a leg amputation, began skating at the urging of his mother to strengthen his leg to avoid amputation.