Norman Henry Baker was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 and lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 player, voted Canada's top basketball player of the first half of the 20th century in a Canadian Press

Canadian Press

Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. is the entity which "will take over the operations of the Canadian Press" according to a November 26, 2010 article in the Toronto Star...

 poll in December 1950.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, Baker began playing basketball at age 10 for the Nanaimo Mosquitoes. At age 16 he joined the Victoria Dominoes and became the youngest player to be part of a Canadian senior national basketball championship team when the Dominoes won the national title in 1939. He won two more national titles with the Dominoes in 1942 and 1946. While serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force

Royal Canadian Air Force

The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...

, he was also a member of the 1943 national champion Pat Bay Gremlins, and scored a then-record 38 points in one game against the Windsor Patricks.

Coming off a national title with the Dominoes, Baker turned professional in 1946 with the Chicago Stags

Chicago Stags

The Chicago Stags were a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago, Illinois, U.S..- Franchise history :The Chicago Stags were founded in 1946 and folded in 1950. Despite their short history, they were able to acquire the draft rights to a young Bob Cousy in a trade with the Tri-Cities...

 of the newly formed Basketball Association of America

Basketball Association of America

The Basketball Association of America was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. The league merged with the National Basketball League in 1949, forming the National Basketball Association ...

, forerunner of the National Basketball Association. He signed what he said was a $4,800 deal to play in Chicago after ignoring an invitation to join the Toronto Huskies

Toronto Huskies

The Toronto Huskies were a team in the Basketball Association of America during the 1946–47 season, based in Toronto, Ontario...

. With the Stags, he wore jersey #16 and had to compete for a spot against all-star Max Zaslofsky

Max Zaslofsky

Max "Slats" Zaslofsky was an American professional basketball player and coach.-Biography:Zaslofsky attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, and St. John's University. He was Jewish....

 under coach Harold Olsen

Harold Olsen

Harold G. Olsen was a college men's basketball coach. The Rice Lake, Wisconsin native was the head coach of the Ohio State University from 1922 to 1946. That year he became the first head coach of the BAA's Chicago Stags, where he coached almost three seasons before being replaced by Philip...

. Baker appeared in just four games with the Stags.

Baker spent most of the 1946-47 season with the Vancouver Hornets of the Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League

Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League

The Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League was a professional basketball league with teams from the Pacific Northwest in the United States and Canada...

, finishing second in the league in scoring with 694 points in 37 games (18.8 points per game average). The Hornets finished with a record of 24-14 in the regular season and 6-6 in the playoffs.

In April 1947, Baker played for the Portland Indians

Portland Indians

The Portland Indians were a professional basketball team in Portland, Oregon. They were a member of the Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League for the duration of the league, which only lasted two seasons: 1946–47 and 1947–48...

 in the ninth annual World Professional Basketball Tournament

World Professional Basketball Tournament

World Professional Basketball Tournament was an invitational tournament for professional basketball teams in the United States held in Chicago, Illinois by the Chicago Herald American. The annual event was held from 1939 to 1948...

. In the first round, the Indians lost 62-48 to the Sheboygan Redskins

Sheboygan Redskins

The Sheboygan Red Skins were a National Basketball League, National Basketball Association, National Professional Basketball League and professional independent team based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA.- Barnstorming roots :...

 and were eliminated. The tournament was sponsored by the Chicago Herald-American

Chicago's American

Chicago American, an afternoon newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, was the last flowering of the aggressive journalistic tradition depicted in the play and movie The Front Page....

newspaper and featured teams from various professional leagues.

During the basketball off-season, Baker played lacrosse with the New Westminster Adanacs, winning the Mann Cup

Mann Cup

The Mann Cup is the trophy awarded to the senior men's lacrosse champions of Canada. The championship series is played between the Western Lacrosse Association champion and the Major Series Lacrosse champion...

 national championship in October 1947 with a three-game sweep of the Mimico Mountaineers.

Rejoining the Hornets for the 1947-48 PCPBL season, Baker led the league in scoring with a 22.6 points per game average. The team set a PCPBL record for most points in a game, scoring 97 against the Astoria Royal Chinooks on December 27, 1947. The Hornets' record dipped to 29-23 through the regular season.

Returning to lacrosse, Baker and the Adanacs again made it to the Mann Cup in 1948, but lost to the Hamilton Tigers three games to two in a series played at Maple Leaf Gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

.

In 1950, Baker was the only non-American on a basketball team of college all-stars billed as “The Stars of the World” for a 13-nation tour of Europe and Africa playing against the Harlem Globetrotters

Harlem Globetrotters

The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...

. The Globetrotters won the 18-game series 11 games to seven, playing before a total of 181,364 fans. For two years, Baker played against the Globetrotters as a member of the travelling opponent teams the New York Celtics, Stars of America and Boston Whirlwinds.

Following his basketball career, Baker worked as a police officer, and coached basketball and lacrosse. He died at age 66 in Victoria. Baker has been inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame (1966), Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established in 1955 to "preserve the record of Canadian sports achievements and to promote a greater awareness of Canada's heritage of sport." It is located at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta...

(1978), the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame (1979), and the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (1993).