In 1957, the Tigers won their first national championship title, and Ed Baker was a senior at Alabama Polytechnic  Institute (API).  Things were done very differently then compared to now. A lot has changed including the name of the institution; it is of course now Auburn University.

Baker grew up in Alabama in Geneva County. He joined the Air Force after high school and he met his wife in Mobile, Ala. After a few years of service he got married and went to school at API on a GI bill. His wife, Joyce, worked at Sears in Opelika while he studied Mechanical Engineering.  They lived off of $165 per month in addition to the money Joyce made working at Sears.

In 1957, football coverage could only be found on the radio or in newspapers. There were no computers, so no internet for media coverage. No one had television either. You had to either go to the game, or listen to it on the radio.

There was not an actual championship game played, just polls that came out once a week, the UPI and the AP poll. The BCS did not exist yet. “The polls used to come out on Tuesday mornings and everyone would gather and listen on the radio,” said Baker.

Auburn won the national championship according to the AP poll, and Ohio State was number one according to the UPI poll. The game of football was played a little differently back then. There were not separate offensive and defensive teams, all the players played both sides. “For example, a quarterback may have played a safety or something,” said Baker. All of the players were white and the stadium only held about 25,000 people.

In addition to differences in the game of football, the university itself has changed in so many ways. Baker explained that so many of the buildings he went to class in when he was a student no longer exist; they have been replaced by newer buildings. Haley Center was not even built until after he graduated.

He and his wife lived in a little house on Gay Street which is no longer there. There were barely any shops and restaurants other than Toomer’s Drugs. This was because there were not enough students to keep a lot of establishments in business; there were only about 8,000 students at the university.

There was one popular place called Copper Kettle on Magnolia Avenue, near where Auburn Bank is now, which had an unfortunate ending. “One night, there was a gas leak and the Copper Kettle blew up. Luckily, it was not during business hours and no one was harmed,” said Baker.

No one had started the tradition of rolling Toomer’s Corner yet, but there was still plenty of activity at that intersection on game days. “One night, I saw some students let the air out of a police car’s tires,” explained Baker. “I’m not sure why they did that, I guess they were just excited after we won the game.”

Most students did not have cars, most just walked everywhere or rode a bicycle. According to Baker, Chewacla State Park was so far away from everything and since no one had a car, nobody went there very often. Instead, the popular hangout spot was Prather’s Lake. This lake is on Glenn Avenue next to The Woods apartment complex.              

After Baker graduated, he and his wife moved to St. Louis for a short time and then they moved to Huntsville, Ala. where he worked at Redstone Arsenal. The Bakers decided to retire in Opelika, Ala. because it feels like home to them. “We didn’t want to stay in Huntsville because there is too much traffic,” Baker laughed. He is now enjoying retirement and works as a host in the Scholarship Club seating in Jordan-Hare Stadium.