Hobey Baker - Princeton

Princeton

In 1910, Baker enrolled at Princeton University. Along with six other classmates from St. Paul's, he lived in a house at 82 Nassau Street in Princeton. He joined the school's hockey, football, and baseball teams in his freshman year. The university's rules stated that students could only play two varsity sports, so Baker played outfield for the freshman baseball team before he gave up that sport to focus on hockey and football. In one of his first games with the football team, he helped defeat rival Yale when he faked a drop-kick field goal and instead ran the ball for a touchdown. Easily recognizable on the field because he wore no helmet, Baker was referred as "the blond Adonis of the gridiron" by Philadelphia sportswriters. Princeton finished the 1911 season with a record of eight wins and two ties in ten games and won the national championship. During a game against Yale on November 18, 1911, Baker set a school record that still stands when he had 13 punt returns for 63 yards.

During the 1911 football season Baker scored 92 points, a school record that lasted until 1974. Princeton finished the 1912 season with seven wins, one loss, and one tie in nine games. As the Princeton hockey team did not have its own ice rink, most of their home games were played in New York City at the St. Nicholas Rink, one of the only facilities in the world with artificial ice at the time. The team finished the 1911–12 hockey season with a record of eight wins and two losses in ten games. During his sophomore year, Baker was invited to join the Ivy Club, the oldest and most prestigious of the eating clubs that were at the center of social life at the university.

Baker was named captain of the football team in 1913, his senior year. Princeton finished with a record of five wins, two losses, and one tie. Over his three-year football career with the Tigers, Baker scored 180 points, a school record that lasted until 1964 when Cosmo Iacavazzi broke it in the final quarter of his last college game. Baker caught over 900 punts in his career, and averaged 300 yards in punt returns per game. He was awarded a varsity letter in football five times; combined with the three letters he earned in hockey, his total was the most that could be earned at Princeton at the time.

It was during the 1913–14 hockey season, Baker's senior year, that his most famous game with Princeton took place. On January 24, they played Harvard at the Boston Arena. Initially the favorite to win, Princeton had a setback as one of its star players was injured and unable to play, and another was suspended. Baker was repeatedly called offside, as he was too fast for the two replacement Princeton players (players were required to stay behind the puck-carrier at the time). In the "sudden death" overtime, after sixty minutes of play, Baker was not even breathing heavily. The game was the longest college hockey game played up to that point.

The final hockey game of Baker's Princeton career was at Ottawa's Dey's Arena against the University of Ottawa on February 28, 1914, for the Intercollegiate Hockey Championship of America. Ottawa defeated Princeton by a 3–2 score. Princeton won the 1914 national championship after they finished with a record of ten wins and three losses. Statistics were not kept of his time at Princeton, but biographer Emil Salvini estimated Baker to have scored over 120 goals and 100 assists in three years, an average of three goals and three assists per game. As well as skill, Baker was known for his sportsmanship. In a hockey game against Harvard on January 22, 1913, Baker suffered the only penalty of his collegiate career, for slashing; Princeton lost the game 5–4 in overtime. He visited the dressing rooms of opponents after every game to shake hands with each player.

In early 1914 Baker graduated from Princeton, majoring in history, politics, and economics, and finished with above-average grades. He was named the school's best football player, hockey player, and all-round athlete and the man who had done the most for Princeton. The football team had posted a record of twenty wins, three losses, and four ties in Baker's three seasons as a member; the hockey team fared equally well with a record of twenty wins and seven losses. By the end of his football career at Princeton, he had two notable achievements: he had never fumbled a punt, and had never lost to Yale.