Billy Baker

**William "Billy" Baker**was a main character on The CW series *All American*. He is portrayed by Taye Diggs.

Billy was the head coach of Beverly High's football team. He recruits Spencer James from South Crenshaw because he sees himself in Spencer because he had a connection to him unknown to everyone else.

He was Crenshaw’s prodigal son and the Head Football Coach at South Crenshaw High. A former NFL player who still struggles to reconcile his past and let go of his glory days, Billy is fighting to be a better man for his team, his family, and for himself. Billy must figure out what the future holds for him and his family as new opportunities present themselves in Crenshaw.

After he passed away in season 5, it was only on My Name Is that he was mentioned to had coaching aspirations having already been drawing offensive plays when Billy and Grace were still in high school.

## Season One

In *"Pilot"*, we're introduced to Spencer James, the star of South Crenshaw High's football team. The football team huddles up, and Spencer tells his teammates he wants the ball. The next play is a deep pass to Spencer. He flips into the end zone and scores. His team wins and the crowd cheers. Well until they hear gunshots.

After, Billy Baker, the coach of Beverly High, approaches Spencer. Billy tries to convince Spencer to come play at his school and assures him that he can get around the recruiting rules. According to Billy, Beverly High is a better and safer school, and he can make his NFL dreams a reality. However, Spencer declines the offer and walks away.

At South Crenshaw High School, Spencer, in an attempt to protect his friend, Coop, gets into a fight. Returning home, he's greeted by Coach Baker. It seems as if he's told Spencer's mother, Grace, all about the offer. She agrees that going to Beverly is the best thing for him.

Spencer's first practice doesn't go very well. Billy wants to try Spencer out on a new position, and Spencer refuses. Adamant on scoring touchdowns, he's against playing defense. Billy asks Jordan to take Spencer under his wing and give him a chance.

Jordan brings Spencer to the Baker house, and Spencer takes notice of how amazing the house is. Jordan reveals that his mother, Laura, is an attorney. While they're hanging out, Jordan overhears his dad on the phone. Billy wouldn't have recruited Spencer if anyone on his team had half his potential.

At practice, Spencer quickly learns it's scrimmage day, and he was tricked. He gets angry and starts to fight, but Billy breaks it up. Spencer lashes at Billy, too, because he thinks Billy only wants to save his job and doesn't care about him.

Again, Coop encourages Spencer to take his chance. Not only can Spencer help his mother, but he can give his brother, Dillon, a better life. So, he goes to Billy and tells him he wants to play in the NFL. After the win, Billy and Spencer walk off the field together -- which Jordan sees. Jordan's feelings are obviously hurt, and he's a little jealous. That Billy is proud of Spencer.

Back at school, Spencer is a star. Everyone seems to be excited to see him, and he seems to love all the attention. But Billy pulls him aside with some bad news: his transfer permit is being contested. Spencer has to move in with the Baker's so he can keep playing for Beverly High.

Finally, present in Crenshaw, Billy appears at Grace's door. It's apparent that they're keep a secret of some sort from Spencer.

In *"99 Problems"*, as Jordan and Billy are running plays, input from Spencer inadvertently steals Jordan's thunder. During football practice, Spencer causes Asher to sprain his ankle so Billy takes Asher out of the upcoming game. Spencer suggests that he, himself, take on both offense and defense. However, Billy is reluctant, refusing to exhaust his best player.

Later, at the Booster Party, Asher's father, Mr. Adams sizes Spencer up -- pissed that his son can't play due to his sprained ankle. After taking a few "subtle" jabs and causing a scene, Mr. Adams drops the bomb about Spencer's residency. With everyone calm, Spencer, in an attempt to show off what he's made of, tries again to convince Billy to let him play both offense and defense in the next game. This time -- Billy, who's being forced to prove that he, himself, can do his job -- agrees. After the Booster Party, Jordan and Olivia confront Billy about giving most of his attention to Spencer. They feel unimportant to their father but Billy tries to reassure them that's not the case. At Beverly High, it's time for the game. Billy sees that Spencer is hurting and benches him. Beverly loses in the last four seconds.

The Bakers have a family meeting to air out their feelings and reach a solution. Billy lets Spencer know that the family wants him to stay. Present at the family dinner. Finally, a flashback reveals that Billy was present at Spencer's first pee-wee football game.

In *"I"*, with both Jordan and Spencer in tow, Billy returns to the Baker's home in Beverly Hills. Here he expresses frustration in Jordan's poor choices. However, Spencer confronts him as to why Jordan hasn't been taught how to deal with police officers. In an attempt to get Jordan familiarized with his roots, Billy and Jordan visit a local Crenshaw barbershop.

In *"Lose Yourself"*, Jordan finds out that Billy has set up a Crenshaw Trust Fund account. Things get even dicier when Jordan spills the secret to a in-denial Olivia. Eventually, Olivia believes Jordan. They try to tag team Billy with questions, but of course, he turns them away, which only makes them more curious. At the Baker's home, Spencer tells Billy that he doesn't want any more handouts.

In *"All We Got"*, it's revealed that, for the past 17 years, Billy has been supporting his father, Willy. Spencer's party is going smoothly until Willy appears and Billy is pissed; forcing Jordan and Olivia to finally come clean about their "investigation". Willy disapproves of Billy and Laura's relationship, because Laura is white. Eventually, Willy creates a scene when he blurts out that Billy and Grace dated in high school. Spencer becomes pissed to the point that he leaves.

The coach catches up with Spencer and basically says that he wants Spencer to be part of his family.

Billy visits Willy at his Crenshaw home and basically confronts him about the day before. Willy isn't too apologetic but instead he mentions Corey James. Willy explains that Corey visited him before he left years ago and basically didn't agree with Billy dating Grace. Willy also says that Corey doesn't know the truth of what actually happened.

In *"The Choice Is Yours"*, despite an impressive win against Culver City, Billy expresses his concern for the way his team's playing recently. And, to make matters worse, he receives an earful from Malibu's Coach Skolnick.

Billy tries to mend Jordan and Asher's friendship by taking them to Malibu's practice game; resulting in a physical altercation between the two which embarrassing the coach. As punishment, Billy makes Jordan and Asher walk home together -- eventually picking them up -- pleased that his plan for their reconciliation worked.

In *"California Love"*, in dire need of some alone time, Laura convinces Grace to help Billy chaperone for the night. The door to Billy's office locks with Grace and Billy inside. While they're waiting on Laura to save them, they reminisce about old times. "Why Laura?" Grace asks. She can sense the apprehension from Billy and tries to throw it under the rug, but he answers her question anyway. The door is unlocked by Laura. In some way, shape or form, Grace receives the closure she was hoping for.

Later, Billy finds out about Asher's drinking and has no choice but to suspend him from the team.

In *"Homecoming"*, Asher's father, Harold Adams, pays Billy a visit. Harold wants Asher on the field by any means necessary, but that goes against Billy's moral and ethics as he tries to teach the boys how to be "decent human beings."

Next, while in the locker room at Beverly Hills High, Billy runs into Coach Skolnick. Skolnick taunts Billy about how Malibu is going to win at the game; continuing his winning streak.

During the game, Billy realizes that Scolnick has their plays. With no time to create new plays, he decides to use Crenshaw's. With help from both Spencer and Chris, Beverly pulls off a win.

Finally, Billy gets an anonymous tip about a player on the Beverly Hills team using drugs, so they have to do a random drug test. As the tests are administered, Coach Skolnick tries to turn Spencer against Billy by telling him that he can't be trusted and that Billy won't stop at anything until he gets what he wants.

## Relationships

**Spencer James**

Billy and Spencer have a deep and special relationship. They first met at one of Spencer's football games in Crenshaw where Billy offered Spencer a spot at Beverly Hills. He rejected it at first but after some encouragement he decides to take the offer. They then go through the ups and downs of their relationship with Billy keeping secrets from Spencer and Spencer's stubbornness to every change Billy made. They slowly start to develop a great friendship as they start opening up to each other. But that relationship temporarily fell apart when Spencer's mother, Grace, told him the real reason why his father abandoned him. It was because Grace and Billy had an affair a few years ago. So Spencer lost all his trust in Billy temporarily. They then had to work through their issues and eventually they did. Billy acted like the father figure Spencer didn't have a long time so they remain to have a special relationship.

**Olivia Baker**

Olivia is Billy's daughter. According to Jordan They've always had a special "Daddy's Girl" bond which seems to be true. He is very protective over her, and shows unconditional love for her. Their only real falling out, was when Olivia and Jordan found out about Billy having an affair with Grace. So all of his family, including Olivia, shunned him completely. But Olivia never really held that against him for too long and still held her father dear to her heart.

**Jordan Baker**

Jordan is Billy's son. They have had the most complicated relationship on the show. Jordan has always wanted a special father-son relationship but felt like Spencer was blocking him from that. However that bond was slowly starting to develop, but hit a few rocky points when Jordan started hanging out with his grandfather, Willy Baker. That bond was temporarily broken when Jordan found out Billy had an affair with Grace. He was even more furious with him. So Billy was on the outs the most with Jordan. But they slowly started to rebuild that bond and Jordan Billy got the father-son relationship Jordan wanted.

**Asher Adams**

Asher is one of Billy's players. They initially had no relationship beyond that, but as time goes on Billy starts to warm up to Asher. He covered for Asher when he found out he was using steroids to help him play better. He id this because he knows Asher's life is falling apart and he deserves to at least get it together. So he appreciated everything Billy did to help him get through his tough times. In season 4, he helped Asher, by then a coaching intern, refine his scouting report for Spencer James, but he didn't fully realize how it drove a wedge in his friendship with Spencer, now that they are in rival colleges.

**Laura Baker**

Laura is Billy's wife. They initially were a happy couple, despite the fact that they were an interracial couple. They worked hard to keep their lives together and their children happy. Laura helped Billy with his football program and Billy always helped Laura with her political campaigns. But flaws and all they always loved each other. However everything came crashing down in Best Kept Secret when Billy told Laura that he had an affair with Grace. She was heartbroken and pretty much wanted nothing to do with Billy. She was constantly pushing him away and tried to keep their interactions after finding out the truth very brief. Billy then decided to talk to Laura at the end of Hard Knock Life, saying that she is the real love of his life, and he wants them to get back what they had before. Laura is hesitant but decides to consult to therapy. So they they did that in Coming Home, and they slowly started to understand where the other is coming from. After hearing the details of Billy's affair, Laura was even more hurt, but after hearing the Baker twins talk about how they'll always be apart of each other Laura decides to hear Billy out. So he tells her how much she means to him, apologizes for what he did, and tells her that he'll do anything to get back what they had, and she believes him, and seals it by kissing him. But it was all short lived when Laura decides they need a divorce. However Laura and Billy still had respect for each other and supported each other showing that even though marriage ended they're amicable. However, in the third season, they started to rebuild what they had and got back together in Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You).

## Appearances

### Season One

* Pilot
* 99 Problems
* i
* Lose Yourself
* All We Got
* The Choice Is Yours
* California Love
* Homecoming
* Keep Ya Head Up
* m.A.A.d. City
* All Eyez on Me
* Back in the Day
* Legacy
* Regulate
* Best Kept Secret
* Championships

### Season Two

* Hussle & Motivate
* Speak Ya Clout
* Never No More
* They Reminisce Over You
* Bring the Pain
* Hard Knock Life
* Coming Home
* Life Goes On
* One of Them Nights
* Protect Ya Neck
* Crossroads
* Only Time Will Tell
* The Art of Peer Pressure
* Who Shot Ya
* Stakes Is High
* Decisions

### Season Three

* Seasons Pass
* How to Survive in South Central

## Gallery

1. ↑ as seen on his tombstone in Make Me Proud