It’s Sept. 5, 1980 in Anaheim, California. NIU football opens its season at Long Beach State University at Anaheim Stadium. NIU flanker Mike Pinckney receives the game’s opening kickoff. Ninety-seven yards later, he crosses the goal line to give the Huskies an early upper hand. The touchdown is the first play from scrimmage of the Huskies’ 1980 campaign.
More notably, it’s the first of many calls for NIU play-by-play announcer Bill Baker.
15,685 days later, NIU vice president and director of athletics Sean Frazier made his way up to the podium to wrap up NIU Athletics’ DeKalb Media Day on Aug. 15. His announcement was straightforward, yet impactful.
The 2023 football season will be Baker’s final ride as the “Voice of the Huskies,” bringing an end to the radio veteran’s 44-year journey.
“Bill is the ultimate pro and the ultimate Huskie,” Frazier said in an NIU Athletics news release. “Coaches, student-athletes, even athletic directors have come and gone, and Bill has been the one constant over the last 43 years. He has been the familiar voice of the Huskies, bringing to life the greatest games, plays and players in our football and basketball history to NIU fans around the world. It’s an amazing legacy and we will celebrate him throughout this football season.”
Baker has been one of the radio voices behind NIU football for 507 games – 287 of those consecutively. He missed only one game, instead being pressed into action to call an NIU basketball tournament that day.
Alongside longtime broadcast partner Mark Lindo, Baker serves as half of the longest-tethered broadcasting duo in NCAA Division I college football.
“He’s an institution,” said former NIU sports information director Mike Korcek. “He is synonymous with NIU and he deserves that recognition.”
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
The illustrious journey began at the Illinois High School Association Championships at the Assembly Hall in Urbana-Champaign. It was there that Baker got wind of a new opportunity at NIU from a fellow announcer.
Baker eventually received the career-changing offer during a meeting with then-NIU athletic director Bob Brigham and assistant Jerry Ippoliti at Chick Evans Field House in spring 1980.
“We stood up, we shook hands and both of them said ‘Bill, we are looking for stability and longevity in this radio broadcaster. Can you be it?’” Baker said. “And I said yes, and Dr. Brigham said ‘Good. We’re hoping for 20 years.’”
Forty-four years after the fact, Baker has met that expectation and more than doubled it.
“SO MANY GAMES, SO MANY FACES, SO MANY PLACES”
Baker has been present for several iconic moments in NIU sports history.
During his tenure as a gridiron commentator, Baker has witnessed the 2003 season – where NIU had a pair of Power Five upsets over the University of Maryland and the University of Alabama, a conference-best five MAC Championships and the Huskies’ storied run to the 2013 Orange Bowl.
Baker’s years of service to NIU sports radio will remain engrained in NIU sports lore thanks to his longevity, his near four-decade chemistry with Lindo, and his iconic farewells to whichever team NIU defeated at the end of each broadcast.
“People can’t wait for him to say ‘Goodbye, Toledo’ or ‘Goodbye, Ball State,’” Korcek said. “That’s like Jack Brickhouse’s ‘Hey, Hey!’ That’s his (Baker’s) saying.”
Beyond his play-by-play responsibilities, Baker – a 2009 inductee of the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame – has served as the master of ceremonies for multiple NIU team events, banquets, coaches’ shows and more.
“The old saying is that time flies when you’re having fun,” Baker said in the release. “Those 44 years sort of snuck up on me and if I could go back, I’d do it all over again. Let’s just say that I’ve never ‘worked’ a day during my time with the Huskies.”
Baker will be honored during NIU’s home opener against Southern Illinois University on Sept. 9 at Huskie Stadium.
Baker will have at least 12 football games left to call before the time comes for NIU to be on the receiving end of his classic send-off.
