He played college football and basketball at Oregon State University, where he was a member and president of Phi Delta Theta.

Baker played for the Oregon State Beavers football team from 1960 to 1962, winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior.

Baker was a three-year letter winner in basketball, and led the Democrats to the Portland Interscholastic League city championship his senior year.

[3] Baker played point guard on the Oregon State basketball team, and quarterback in football, but was a halfback as a sophomore in 1960.

He also played in the College All-Star Game in Chicago on August 2, 1963, the last time the collegiate stars defeated the reigning NFL champion.

[4] Baker's 99-yard run in the first quarter against Villanova in the frigid Liberty Bowl (in Philadelphia in mid-December 1962), the only score in Oregon State's 6–0 victory,[5][6][7] remains an NCAA record.

When Baker arrived in camp, he dazzled in the presentation of calling out signals and handing the ball out while doing soft throws for warm-up lobs.

at the University of Southern California Law School, studying at night during football season and full-time in the offseason.

A pulled muscle in the groin, alongside a dispute about a contract while he tried to take the bar exam in Oregon, led to the end of his professional football career.