tice. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from
UNC. William Stover McEver (’ 71
PhD), 63, of Warrenton,Va.; Dec. 19, 2006.
McEver was senior lead scientist/engineer
with a division of General Dynamics. Dr.
Robert Coleman Watson (’ 71 MPH), 80, of
Touché
Thurbert Baker ’ 75 had no plans to sign up
for fencing when he showed up late for registration his freshman year. All he knew of
swordsmanship was what he’d seen on
episodes of Zorro. But all of the other physical
education classes were filled. Baker learned
fast, and after several weeks coach Ron Miller
’ 76 (PhD) asked him to try out for the school
fencing team. He went on to compete four
years for UNC, win the ACC individual sabre
championship in 1975 and earn a record that,
nearly three decades later, inspired the ACC to
name him one of the top 50 fencers in the
league’s history.
Baker didn’t intend to become a politician,
either, but he’s done well in that field, too. He’s
the attorney general for Georgia and the only
African-American to currently hold that post in
the 50 states.
Baker, 54, grew up in Rocky Mount. Maybe
it’s something in the water — Rocky Mount has
produced two other attorneys general, both
UNC grads: Roy Cooper ’ 79, who currently holds
the post, and Mike Easley ’ 72, now the N.C.
governor. Baker’s family was underprivileged,
but his mother urged him to set his goals high.
“I grew up thinking if you apply yourself, there’s
nothing you can’t do,” Baker said. From age 6
he aspired to be a lawyer, just like Perry
Mason. “I liked the idea that the bad guys got
caught at the end of the program,” Baker said.
While a high school senior, Baker was
recruited to Carolina by Hayden Bently Renwick
’ 66 (MED), who as assistant director of admissions was working to increase the number of
minority students at Carolina. Renwick said he
knew Baker was a good student, but he also
liked Baker’s calm personality — “a demeanor
that I thought would be an asset to the University.”
Baker was leaning toward Wake Forest but
had not ruled out Carolina, partly because his
best friend was going there. Plus, Baker says,
“it was part of every kid’s dream to go to UNC
and follow the Tar Heels.” Once Baker got to
Carolina, he helped Renwick recruit other
minority students.
At Carolina, Baker lived in Hinton James,
majored in political science and set his sights
on law school. He spent his spare time fencing.
Jim Scott ’ 75, the team captain for one of
Jeffersonville, Ga.; Jan. 5, 2007. Watson was
director of dental services at the Central State
Hospital for 35 years. He served in the military
in WWII. John Ronald Youngken (’ 71
AB), 57, of New York; Dec. 14, 2006.
Youngken was vice president and compliance
those years, recalled Baker as a hard competitor but always a sportsman.
“Thurbert headed up our sabre team and
always kept his finger on the pulse of his guys,”
Scott said. “They were always ready for battle. He
had a great sense of humor but was very serious about what was right and what was wrong.”
LOU FREEMAN
Thurbert Baker ’ 75, a fencer at UNC, is serving his 10th
year as attorney general of Georgia.
After graduating, Baker said, he briefly considered trying out for the U.S. Olympic fencing
team, but he’d spent 15 years dreaming about
becoming a lawyer and wanted to stay on track.
He married his high school sweetheart,
Catherine, with whom he now has two daughters, and headed south to Emory Law School in
Atlanta. After earning his law degree, Baker
stayed in the Atlanta area, working for the Environmental Protection Agency and going into private practice. In the late 1980s, he successfully
promoted a library bond referendum in DeKalb
County and was approached about running for
the state House.
“People think you plan for these things all
your life,” Baker said of his election to the Legislature, “but you don’t.”
Baker also remembers — and still seems
irritated by — the people who urged him not to
run, saying he stood no chance against a white
incumbent in a majority white district. “Don’t
tell me I can’t do something,” he said two
decades later.
officer at the Bank of Tokyo. He belonged to
St. Anthony Hall at UNC.
’ 72 Lesley J. Farmer (’ 72 MSLS) of
Los Alamitos, Calif., has published her 20th book, Collaborative
Baker served five terms
in the Georgia House, profile
including three as floor
leader for the governor. He
concentrated on welfare reform and anti-crime
legislation, including the state’s “Two Strikes
and You’re Out” law, which imprisons violent
offenders for life without parole.
When the incumbent attorney general
resigned in 1997 to run for governor, then-Gov.
Zell Miller appointed Baker to the post. Baker
immediately announced that combating
domestic violence would be a priority. That
sprang from his childhood memory of a woman
in his hometown. “I don’t remember a time
when she wasn’t bruised and swollen,” Baker
said. “That didn’t seem right to me.”
With a goal of preventing children in abusive
homes from becoming abusers themselves,
Baker pushed through a law that makes it a
crime to commit an act of domestic violence in
the presence of a child. Doing so can bring a
charge of cruelty to children, along with other
charges.
Calling himself “a conservative Democrat,”
Baker also has enforced the Georgia death
penalty, written laws to prosecute mortgage
fraud, prosecuted Medicaid fraud and
defended Georgia’s controversial voter ID law,
which was declared unconstitutional last fall
and is still being debated on appeal. The public’s expectations, he said, are pretty simple:
enforce the law. And the voters have re-elected
Baker attorney general three times, most
recently last November, even though Republicans now dominate Georgia government. As he
starts his 10th year in office, Baker is quietly
raising his profile. Last fall, he became president of the National Association of Attorneys
General.
Political blogs mention Baker as a possible
candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008 or the
governorship in 2010. “I can’t stop people from
talking,” he said. “We’ll see what happens
down the road.”
He’s made up his mind about one thing: No
more fencing. His last attempt was four or five
years after law school, and it was not a return
to glory. “I could remember it all, but could not
execute,” Baker said. “I was sore for days.”
