Football | October 20

DeKALB, Ill. – Bill Baker, the radio voice of the Northern Illinois University Huskies for the last 44 years and a United States Air Force veteran, has been named an "Elite 11" finalist for the 2023 Armed Forces Merit Award, presented by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
 
The winner of this year's award, which was created in June 2012 "to honor an individual and/or a group with a military background and/or involvement that have an impact within the realm of college football," will be announced on November 9 on ESPN.
 
Baker, the legendary "Voice of the Huskies," has become synonymous with NIU Athletics since becoming NIU's football and basketball radio play-by-play announcer in 1980, calling 514 football and more than 1,200 basketball (men's and women's) games while also hosting NIU coaches' radio and television shows, banquets and special events. His retirement, effective at the end of the 2023 NIU Football season, was announced in August.
 
A Chicago native, Baker served in the U.S. Air Force from 1969-73, including a tour of duty in Vietnam, where he was a helicopter pilot. Upon returning to Chicago, he began his career as a reporter and broadcaster, calling thousands of high school games before signing on with NIU.
 
"This came out of nowhere," Baker said. "To be nominated and then selected as a finalist on the national level is an incredible honor. Most of what I've accomplished in my lifetime, including my broadcast career at NIU was grounded in the person I became while serving in the Air Force. Do it. Do it right. Do it now."
 
Baker's professionalism, his passion and most of all, his ability to connect fans to NIU games, teams and student-athletes, through his broadcasts, has brought the Huskies' story to hundreds of thousands of viewers and listeners.
 
The 2023 honoree of the Armed Forces Merit Award will be determined by a selection committee consisting of seven FWAA members and two representatives from the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. Brief profiles on this year's "Elite 11" finalists, chosen from an initial list of 45 nominees, are available here.
 
Baker will be on the call Saturday as the NIU football team takes on Eastern Michigan Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Huskie Stadium. Listen on 94-9 WDKB FM in DeKalb, SportsFan AM 1330 in Rockford, or on the NIU Huskies or The Varsity Network app on mobile devices. 
 
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