Reginald Baker

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Reginald Baker
Snowy Baker pose.jpg
Player information
Full name Reginald Leslie Baker
birthday February 8, 1884
place of birth Sydney , Australia
date of death 2nd December 1953
Place of death Los Angeles , United States
Nickname Snowy
society
society Career ended
position Half of the crowd
National team
Years National team Games (points)
1904 Australia 2 ()

Reginald ("Snowy") Leslie Baker (born February 8, 1884 in Sydney , † December 2, 1953 in Los Angeles ) was an Australian athlete, Olympic medalist, film actor, stuntman and organizer of sporting events.

biography

Baker is said to have played no fewer than 26 sports during his life. It is known that he was a multiple student master in swimming , played water polo and competed in middle-distance races in athletics . He was a technical draftsman by profession . During his military service he found pleasure in other sports such as B. fencing , wrestling and shooting . In 1904 he was a member of the rugby union selection of the state of New South Wales and was with them on a tour of Great Britain.

Baker had started boxing in 1902 . In 1905 and 1906 he was middleweight champion in the states of New South Wales and Victoria . In late 1906 he traveled to Great Britain with the aim of becoming a British amateur champion, but he fell ill with pneumonia . In time for the Olympic Games in London in 1908 , he was fit again. First, he took part in diving and swimming and reached fourth place with the Australian freestyle relay. Then he took part in the Olympic boxing tournament and won the silver medal in the middleweight class, only in the final he was defeated by Johnny Douglas .

After returning to Australia, Baker worked as a businessman, journalist and boxing referee. In addition, he organized numerous boxing competitions and wrote a sports textbook. After he had worked in several Australian films from 1918, he moved to California in 1920 , where he aspired to a career as an actor. He played minor roles in several Hollywood films, his stage name was Rex Baker. But as a stuntman , trainer and businessman he was far more successful.

During the 1932 Summer Olympics , which took place in his adopted home Los Angeles , Baker looked after the Australian participants as team leader. In 1933 he became director of an exclusive country club in Los Angeles. He played polo and taught horseback riding to numerous Hollywood stars like Greta Garbo , Douglas Fairbanks and the young Elizabeth Taylor .

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Commons : Reginald Baker  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Baker, Reginald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baker, Snowy; Baker, Reginald Leslie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian rugby player, boxer, actor, stunt performer, sporting event organizer
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Sydney
DATE OF DEATH 2nd December 1953
Place of death los Angeles