From Motor City to Steel City: Baker Leading the Yellow Jackets to Success

Steel City Yellow Jackets veteran Lawrence Baker did not always have it easy in his childhood. However, he turned his misfortune into a great basketball career that saw him play collegiately at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and now has him as one of the leaders of the Steel City Yellow Jackets.

Steel City Yellow Jackets Guard and veteran Lawrence Baker is one of the shining stars on the court for this year’s Steel City Yellow Jackets team. He is currently the second leading scorer on the team behind teammate Antonio Reddic, and his defense has been one of the strong points for this year’s team playing as the big man under the net. However, looking at where he is now, you would never know that his childhood was not always the easiest.

Baker grew up in Detroit, Michigan where he was constantly in and out of foster care throughout his childhood. Baker was forced to move around a lot and that lead to him not being able to play basketball at a young age. He was constantly in and out of Juvenile Detention Centers and did not get the opportunity to play sports, let alone basketball, from a very young age.

“Growing up in Detroit was pretty tough,” said Baker. “When I was 9 I was admitted into foster care, so I grew up in foster care. I was a real wild child so that was why I never played basketball at high school, college, or Amateur Athletic Union leagues.”

Through all of this craziness in his childhood, Baker was able to overcome it and use it in a positive light to help him find the sport he now loves. According to Baker he found the game of basketball when he was 16 years old in a Juvenile Detention Facility. The conditions were not the best for the game, but Baker would make it work and turned it into something special.

“I found basketball when I got sent to a Juvenile Detention Facility when I was 16,” said Baker. “There was nothing else to do and we played on a carpet floor with no break away rims. There was nothing else to do so we just played, and I could never shoot or dribble but I was always athletic.”

Little did Baker know at the time, but this leisure activity in the Juvenile Facility was about to become something much bigger and lead to a bright future for him. After leaving the Juvenile Detention Facility, Baker and a friend took a trip up to the University of Michigan for a tournament. Much to Baker’s surprise, this is what would ultimately lead him to becoming a member of an organized basketball team for the first time in his life.

“I was playing with a friend in a three-on-three tournament at the University of Michigan, and I won a dunk contest against the University of Michigan athletes,” said Baker. “A junior college coach came up and asked me ‘are you playing anywhere’ and I said ‘no.’ Then he gave me a scholarship for winning the dunk contest, and that is how I got into basketball.”

Baker would go on to play for his first organized basketball team at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In his senior season with the Crimson Hawks, Baker averaged 20.7 points per game, which was second on the team, and collected a team high 220 rebounds in his 28 games played. Baker would be eligible for the National Basketball Association draft after that season but unfortunately did not get picked up.

After college, Baker mostly played basketball around the Pittsburgh area in local summer leagues. He did get the opportunity to play one year over seas, but after a year he was back playing local basketball. Through these summer leagues, he found the Steel City Yellow Jackets and it was current Owner and Head Coach Averill Pippens, known by the players as Coach Ace, who gave Baker the opportunity with the Yellow Jackets.

“Coach Ace came to one of the leagues I was playing in and was passing out flyers,” said Baker. “A friend of mine told me I should just go up there and try it out, so I went up there and its been going ever since.”

Baker was a member of the Yellow Jackets in their first season and Coach Ace is still one of the key people in Baker’s life to help motivate him on the court. According to Baker, Coach Ace is the guy who encourages him to be himself on the court and motivates him to continue to get better on a day-to-day basis whether it be on the court or off of the court.

“Coach Ace basically he motivates me to keep leading and keep doing what I do,” said Baker. “My game is solid, there is nothing I do great, there is nothing I do exceptionally well, but I play hard and do whatever it takes to win. Coach Ace lets me go with that and keep my attitude and he really lets me play my game.”

Baker is one of three current Steel City Yellow Jackets who were part of the team for the inaugural game back on November 8^th 2014. Fellow Jackets Gilmore Cummings and Antonio Reddic were also on that team and all three players have grown together over the course of their time with the Yellow Jackets. Baker has echoed what Reddic and Cummings have said about the three being like brothers and growing together through the Yellow Jackets.

“They’re my bros man, those two are some good guys,” said Baker. “Tone [Reddic] is a very good athlete, Gil [Cummings] is a very smart guard, and they have my back and I have their back. I’m the enforcer of the group so anytime they have a problem I’m there no matter what’s going on.”

As the enforcer of the group, Baker is a menacing figure on the court standing in at six feet six inches tall and weighing in at about 230 pounds. As Baker gets up there in age he is relying more and more on his strength over his athletic ability and he uses this to his full advantage. As Baker says, if he gets an arm around you, you’re not moving.

“I’m just strong, so I just try to use my strength as an advantage,” said Baker. “I’m older now, so these guys can jump higher than me and move faster than me, but they are not stronger than me and they are not going to move me. Unless you’re jumping over me you’re not going to get around me because when I put an arm on you, you’re not going anywhere.”

Baker’s overall goal when it comes to basketball is to win and represent the city well. According to Baker, Detroit is considered more of a basketball city and Pittsburgh is definitely more football. He wants to try and open up an avenue for the kids playing at the college level so that they can have something to look forward to in their athletic adventures after the college level.

“[The Steel City Yellow Jackets] are good because it gives kids who are playing in high school and college locally something to look forward too,” said Baker. “Everybody can’t play overseas, everybody can’t play in the NBA, so this gives them another opportunity where they can come and play basketball at a high level.”

Baker has become a truly great asset for the Steel City Yellow Jackets since joining the team in 2014. From his humble beginnings back in Detroit to now, Baker has grown not only in physical size and strength, but mentally as well. As far as his basketball career goes Baker says, “I don’t know how much longer my old butt is going to be around, but I’ll be here as long as I can.” The Steel City Yellow Jackets hope that it is for a long time so they can capture that elusive American Basketball Association title.