The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-12-27
>iHOBEY" BAKER KILLED
 IN FALL OF AIRPLANE
Former Great Football Player and Hockey Star Me < Death in France Saturday, According to Gable e gram Received in This Country.

Capt. Hobart A. H. Baker, army aviator, hockey star and football player at Princeton several years ago, was killed in France last Saturday by fall in his airplane, according to g. private cable message received in New York yesterday by Percy R. Pyne, 2d. The message from Paris was signed ~Inglehart." who was a. member of Capt. Bakers air squadron and who requested that his family be notified. kNo details were given.
 Capt. Hobart A. H. Baker, better Known as "Hobey' Baker, was fa- ,1nous as an athlete at Princeton, par tfcularly in football from 1911 to 1913 and later with the St. Nicholas Hockey club seven when he ranked as one of the greatest hockey players ever de- rveloped in this country.
 Few men earned greater fame in sports and few have been more pop ular, due partly to the fact that he did much and talked little. He was ,extremely modest and was disposed to make light of his own brilliant Performances on gridiron or ice. His personality was most attractive and he made friends easily and quickly and held them, too.
 Baker first earned prominence in Football in the fall of 1911 when Princeton defeated Harvard 8 to 6 and Yale to 8. He was a really great halfback and in the opinion of many ranked with the best of all time. With remarkable speed and striking agility he combined quick ness of thought and eye, which made him a hard man to stop at all times and particularly dangerous in a broken field.
 One cannot recall Baker without remembering his brilliant 85-yard run for a touchdown against Dart mouth in the fall of 1912, after catching a punt on his own 15-yard line, or without remembering that his deadly drop-kicking was respon- sible for holding Yale to tie score of 6 to in 1912 and of to ir 1913. In fact Baker was one of the few Princeton football players who played on three teams without sui fering defeat at the hands of Yale.
 He was captain of the eleven il 1913 and his team was beaten b! Harvard to o, but after being clear ly outplayed by Yale a week later h. came to the rescue in the third per iod with a dropkick from a difficul angle, and so saved the Orange an Black.
 He also earned prominence in hoe key while in college, but played t his greatest fame after being gradu ated in 1914. Few faster men hay ever been seen on the ice.
 Baker took up flying soon afte leaving college and was one of tn first to make a flight from Long Is land to Princeton to sec footba game. When the war broke out h was among the first to enlist in tn aviation service and soon rose to tn rank of Lieutenant. His work in tn air was characterized by its darin and he was one of the first American to bring down a German plane afte war was declared.
 It seems the irony of fate that + should fall to his death by accide1 after safely brdving the perils of wa
 Capt. "Hobey' Bakers career { an aviator in France was told Philadelphia last night by Majc Charles J. Riddle, one of the Amer can aces who was in command of tl group in which Baker served, and WI returned home last week.
 He said that Baker during his SCI vice at the front brought down thre German machines, one at Ypres an two in the St. Mihiel sector in the la ten days of the war. The last m; chine, Major Riddle said, was a tackled by Baker 20,0O0 feet in the a and was carrying propaganda leafle to be dropped among American infal try.
 Baker left for England in the sun mer of 1917 after f';1ing in this coul try for about P year, principally EIineola, l.. I. After further trainir in England he was sent to the Anne 3can school at Issoudun, France. Lat he was ordered to the French gu nery school near Bordeaux, where finished his training, and then WI assigned to instructing Americans.
 Later Baker joined the Lafayet squad and, went to the front abo April 1. Tn the latter part Of May brought down his first German m chine at YDres and was awarded t French war cross.
 About July ]. according to Mai Riddle, Baker was transferred as flight commander to the 1oth Ae Pursuit Group. with the rank of Fiji Lieutenant. Tn August he was plsc an command of the Hist Purs, Squadron and sent to the rear to ganize 1t, and in october was order to the St. Mihiel front and promot to Captain. He was in command 26 officers 1SO men and controlled Go 25 machines. Capt. Baker flew the St. Mihiel sector until the arm tice was signed.
 "There was no finer man nor better pilot" said Major Riddle. ''
 was very slzilfui ands particula
 fearless. He would have had
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