David Baker, Pro Football Hall of Fame President and CEO

Sports Spectrum Podcast

Sports Spectrum

Sports

5 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 456

Since 2014, David Baker has been the President and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At 6'9 and 400 pounds, David is an imposing figure but he's also the one guy every former NFL player loves during the Super Bowl as Baker is the guy who knocks on the door and congratulates the new inductees every year to the Hall.

In 2018, the Pro Football Hall of Fame was voted the Best Attraction for Sports Fans in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest.

Before his football governing days, Baker played professional basketball in Switzerland and worldwide with a Christian basketball team that beat the best in the world. He was elected Mayor and Councilman of Irvine, Calif., the country’s first master-planned city and served for 12 years as the Commissioner of the Arena Football League.

Baker is the father of two boys – Ben who is the Director of Broadcasting at NASCAR and Sam who played left tackle for the Atlanta Falcons and currently serves as a coach for Mission Viejo High School football team. David and his wife Colleen also have a daughter Leyla and a son, Michael; and are the proud grandparents of eight beautiful grandchildren.

On this episode of the podcast, we talk to David about his job telling football players that they're in the Hall of Fame, the parallels of football and scripture, the experience of telling Jimmy Johnson and Bill Cowher in person live on a broadcast that they were going to Canton. David's a strong leader and he shares how his walk with the Lord guides his work each day.

For more stories on sports and faith, log on to http://SportsSpectrum.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Sports Spectrum, the Sports and Faith podcast that brings Jesus back into the conversation.
0:17.5	Here's your host, Jason Romano.
0:20.0	This episode of Sports Spectrum's podcast with David Baker is brought to you by Compassion
0:24.9	International, the most trusted child development ministry in the world.
0:28.9	For more information about how you can help release a child from poverty, check out the
0:33.3	website, Compassion.com slash sports spectrum.
0:42.3	Compassion.com slash sports spectrum. It's $38 a month,
0:48.5	tax deductible, and it's you having the opportunity to release a child from poverty by sponsoring them through compassion. Check out the website. You'll see a list of children there. Compassion.com slash sports spectrum and pray about sponsoring a child today.
0:59.1	Really excited to welcome David Baker, the president and CEO of the pro football Hall of Fame, joining us today on Sports Spectrum.
1:08.7	And I'm a football junkie. I mean, I'm a historical football junkie. I am kind of,
1:14.1	I feel like Rain Man sometimes when people ask me football questions about the history of the game,
1:19.0	because when I was a kid and into my high school years in early college, that was my Bible. That was
1:25.3	my studies, was watching and studying and reading about the history of pro football.
1:31.3	So it's a real treat for me to be able to talk to David Baker, who is the president and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1:37.9	He's the gentle giant. He's a large man. And you'll know this guy if you watch pro football especially during the playoffs he's the
1:45.6	guy that gets to knock on the door and tell the pro football nominees for the hall of fame
1:52.0	that they get to make it to canton and are in to the pro football hall of fame so that's david baker's
1:58.3	job it's the best job in my my opinion, in sports, is to
2:02.6	see David Baker knocking on a door and telling you that you're in the Hall of Fame. But just
2:07.5	this past year, they did something a little different, too, with the inductions or I guess the
2:11.7	announcements of coaches Bill Cowher, the longtime Steelers coach, and Jimmy Johnson, the longtime
2:17.2	Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins coach, and Jimmy Johnson, the longtime Dallas Cowboys and
	...

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