John Baker was considered too short and slight of build to be a runner for his high school track team. But, John loved to run and wanted more than anything to make the team. His best friend, John Haaland, was a tall and promising runner and was being heavily recruited by the Manzano High School track coach, but he wanted nothing to do with the sport. John Baker convinced the track coach to let him join the team under the premise that his best friend would follow. The coach agreed and John became a runner.
The team’s first meet was a 1.7 mile cross-country race through the foothills of the Sandia Mountains surrounding Albuquerque. The reigning state champion, Lloyd Goff, was running and all eyes were on him. The race began and the pack of runners lead by Goff disappeared behind a hill. The spectators waited. A minute passed then two and three. Then a silhouette of a single runner appeared. The crowd assumed that it was one of the favorites. But to everyone’s amazement, it was John Baker leading the way to the finish line. In his first meet, he blew away the field and set a new meet record.
When he was asked what happened behind the hill, Baker explained that around the halfway point of the run, he was struggling hard. Then he asked himself this question, “Am I doing my best?” Unsure if he was truly giving his best effort, he fixed his eyes on the back of the runner in front of him. “One at a time,” he thought. He then focused entirely on one thing – to pass the runner in front of him.
He committed to himself that nothing would distract him–fatigue, pain, nothing. One by one he caught and passed each runner in front of him until there were no others to pass.
As the season progressed, John proved that his first race victory was not a fluke. Once a race began, John, the fun loving, unassuming teenager, became a fierce and relentless competitor that refused to lose. By the end of his junior year, John had broken six meet records and was largely regarded to be the best miler in the state. In his senior year he ran the entire track and cross-country season undefeated, winning the state championship in both events. The future certainly looked bright for this seventeen year old.
John next entered the University of New Mexico in 1962 and took his training to the next level by running over ten miles a day. In the spring of 1965, Baker and his team faced the most feared track team in the nation – the University of Southern California Trojans. There was little doubt that the mile would belong to the Trojans. As the race began, John led for the first lap then he purposely slipped back to fourth place. At the far turn of the third lap, John collided with another runner vying for position. He stumbled and struggled to stay on his feet, losing valuable time. With just under 330 yards to go, John Baker dug deep, and living up to his reputation, he blew past the leaders to take the victory by three seconds.
After graduating college, John set his sights on the 1972 Olympics. In order to have time to train and also make a living, John took a coaching position at Aspen Elementary in Albuquerque where he had the opportunity to work with kids – something he always wanted to do. Within a few months, Coach Baker became known as the coach who cared. He invested a great deal of time and energy into working with his students as individuals. He was not critical but only demanded what he demanded of himself; that each child give their best effort. The kids responded and loved learning from Coach Baker.
In May 1969, just before his twenty-fifth birthday, John began to notice that he was tiring prematurely from his workouts. Just a few weeks later, he developed chest pains and one morning he awoke with a painfully swollen groin. He went to see his doctor and, after extensive tests, it was discovered that he had an advanced form of testicular cancer. John was informed that the only chance he had for survival was to undergo surgery. The operation, however, confirmed the worst possible scenario. His cancer had spread. His doctor’s prognosis was that he had, at best, six months to live and to do so another operation would be required.
Of course John was devastated. It would have been both easy and understandable if John Baker had just laid down, quit and felt sorry for himself. In fact, shortly before the second operation, John drove to the nearby mountains where he planned to end of his life. He did not want to put his family through the pain of being witness to his impending lingering and suffering death. Just before he planned to drive off a cliff, John recalled the faces of his children at Aspen Elementary and he wondered if they would think that this was the best that Coach Baker could do. He decided in that instant that this was not the legacy that he wanted to leave behind.
Instead, John decided to rededicate his life to his kids and to continue striving to give his best effort. He knew he was not a quitter. John drove home with a new determination to give his best effort for the rest of his life, however short that might be.
In September, after extensive surgery and a summer of treatments, John returned to Aspen where he added a unique program to include mentally and physically challenged kids within the sports program. He appointed them to named positions that he created such as “Coach’s Time Keeper” or “Chief Equipment Supervisor.” Everyone that wanted to participate in his programs was included. By Thanksgiving, letters from parents were arriving daily at Aspen Elementary praising Coach Baker. John created a special award for any child that he thought deserved recognition. He used his own trophies as awards, carefully polishing off his own name. He purchased special fabric with his own money and at night would cut blue ribbons to give as awards.
John refused to take the medication prescribed by his doctors to help alleviate his increasing pain because he was afraid of how it would impair his ability to work with his kids. In early 1970 John was asked to help coach a small Albuquerque track club for girls – The Duke City Dashers. By that summer the Dashers were a team to contend with. Baker boldly predicted that they would make it to the AAU finals.
By now, John’s condition was complicated by chemotherapy treatments. He could not keep any food down, his health rapidly deteriorated and he struggled to make it to practices. One day in October at practice, a young girl ran up to Coach Baker and shouted, “Coach, your prediction came true, we’re going to the AAU championship next month!” Baker was elated and hoped and prayed for one remaining wish – to live long enough to go along. Unfortunately, it was not to be. A few weeks later, John clutched his abdomen and collapsed. He would not be able to make the trip. Then, at the age of twenty-six on Thanksgiving Day in 1970, John Baker passed away – eighteen months after his first visit to his doctor. He had beaten the odds by twelve months. Two days later, the Duke City Dashers won the AAU championship in St. Louis – “for Coach Baker.”
As it stands, that would have been the end of the story. Except, a few days after his funeral, the children at Aspen Elementary began calling their school “John Baker School” and others rapidly adopted this change. A movement began to make the new name official. The Aspen principal referred the matter to the Albuquerque school board. In the spring of 1971, 520 families in the Aspen district voted on the matter. There were 520 votes cast in favor of the name change and none against. That May, at a ceremony attended by hundreds of John’s friends, family and kids, Aspen Elementary officially became John Baker Elementary.
Today, John Baker Elementary stands as a testament to a courageous young man who believed in giving his best effort right down to the very end.
The following prophetic poem was written by John five years before he was diagnosed with cancer:
Many thoughts race through my mind
As I step up to the starting line.
Butterflies through my stomach fly,
And as I free that last deep sigh,
I feel that death is drawing near.
But the end of the race I do not fear,
For when the string comes across my breast,
I know it will be time for my eternal rest.
The gun goes off, the race is run,
And only God knows if I’ve won.
My family and friends and many more
Can’t understand what it was for,
But this “Race to Death” is a final test,
And I’m not afraid, for I’ve done my best.
– Source for story and poem: Finish Strong by Dan Green
Have an AWE-full Weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacqué