Believe it or not, we are related! OK, for some of you not around in the 70’s and 80’s here’s a bit of info on him taken from the official site of the Canadian Football League.
- Played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1968 until 1973 and again in 1977-78. Played with B.C. Lions from 1974-76 and had a career total of 174 games. His credo was "Your opponents are only as tough as you let them be" and throughout his career, the "Undertaker" was known for his ferocious pass rush. Was named to the CFL All-Star team 4 times, All-Western team 5 times, played in the Grey Cup in 1969 and ’72 and was named the Schenley Outstanding Defensive Player in 1976. Was named the CFL’s President and Chief Operating Officer in December 1988, serving for one year.
Bill was in town wih his wife to look over some memorabilia from his grandfather’s store — C.W. Baker’s General Store. The 98 year old building was demolished this past few weeks (at least that’s how old I’ve been told the store building was). Bill is currently working in Calgary with an oil company. He himself is great company and I enjoyed the time together.
Oh yes, the relationship is "shirt-tail" — I believe my grandfather was a cousin (once or twice removed) to Bill’s grandfather. Nevertheless — great to meet in person and enjoy a few hours together!
I’m thankful for your blog. Keeps us up to date on your doings. Glad to see that you met up with Bill Baker ‘the undertaker’. There is a picture of him and a little writeup in the Doner Book. You could figure out your exact relationship to him from that. Believe it or not, I worked for a short time in C.W.Baker’s store over 70 years ago. Keep up the blogging. Dad