Blaine Baker

Arguably Fall ‘93’s most undistinguished pledge member, Brother Blaine Baker has a unique history with nicknames. Beyond such aliases as Shake N Bake, Senator Baker, Pootie Bake, Shoulders, Nostrildamus and Precious (abbreviated: “Presh”), just to name a few, the nickname Lawn Dart will forever live in Sigma Chi Folklore.

Authored by an eventual award winning Derby Daddy, Brother Blue Baggott, the Legend of Lawn Dart began on a cool Fall ‘93 morning in the heart of Lubbock Texas on the Texas Tech intramural fields.

The flag football playoffs had just begun and the lowest seeded Sigma Chi B-Team, who just snuck into the playoffs, faced the highest seeded and undefeated Phi Delt A-team. The Sigma Chi B-team was entirely made up of Fall ‘93 pledges and 5th year junior, Aaron Payne. The Phi Delt A-team featured some upper class athletes including former varsity Tech players of various sports and even upset our defending champion Sigma Chi A-Team during the regular season.

The crowd that morning was unusually large for a first round playoff game. As many readers of the time are aware, the Sigma Chi / Phi Delt rivalry was at peak volume. There were a record number of Sorority representatives due to the nature of the two top fraternities facing off. Furthermore, many other fraternities happened to be there to scout the Phi Delt A-Team.