Baker Proud Spring 2017 - 16

Baldwin City
"[This experience made me feel] very prideful.
Several people who know I graduated from
Baker called or emailed me when they heard
the team made it to the national championship
game. Baker was a great experience for me,
and I am happy to know the school is making
strides and competing on a national level."

-Chriss Spires, '84

Board of Trustees chairman Gordon Lansford enjoys the
national championship watch party at Overtime Sports Bar
and Grill in Overland Park with fellow class of '93 alumni.
Left to Right: Eric Conaway, '95, Gordon Lansford, '93,
Joe Sanders, '96, and Darren King, '94.

We laughed. We cried. We celebrated. We reminisced. A lot of us even
drove more 1,000 miles to share in the Baker pride that took over Daytona, Florida, for a week
in mid-December. Here's why we did it.

"It was a very enjoyable weekend with a first-class
pregame gathering and with such a huge Baker
presence! The event also helped many of us reconnect with BU alumni we haven't seen in years.
It's very satisfying to see how large the Baker
'family' has grown since I graduated."
-Dave Mai, '88

MacKenzie Pfeiffer, '15, Katie Duroe, '14, Alyse
Menghini, '15, and Erika Mallery, '16, wait for
the football team's buses to arrive before the
National Championship kickoff.

"There's always something special about
broadcasting a championship game, whether
it's for a conference title or at the national
level, and at Baker, I was lucky to be on
the call for a lot of them. Tom Hedrick and
I called two national championship games
in one calendar year. At any level of college
athletics, that doesn't happen very often."

-Jim Joyner, '16

Jim was the broadcaster for many Baker athletics events, including the women's national championship basketball game in
March. He traveled with the team to Daytona to be a part
of history.

"I chose to go to Daytona because I played with over half
those current players just a season before. The experience
was unbelievable. As an alum, I still felt like I was a part of
the team, watching them take the field on a national stage.
Not to mention, it was the perfect opportunity for me to
ask Callie Brabender ('16) to marry me."

-Alex Baird, '16

Alex, a former NAIA Scholar-Athlete and 2016 Outstanding Senior, proposed
to Callie Brabender, former dance team captain and fellow 2016 Outstanding
Senior. The couple is now planning their wedding.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baker Proud Spring 2017