More from the recently announced Maryland athletics, and legendary Maryland basketball player Lonny Baxter.
Following Maryland’s announcement that the former Terps basketball player gets inducted into the university’s 2024 sports Hall of Fame, the memories of Lonny Baxter continue to flood. Following the news, Baxter was profiled on the official Maryland website. Baxter described in Michael Rovetto’s account how, as a high school student, he fell in love with Maryland basketball.
“I remember being in high school watching Joe Smith, Exree Hipp, Keith Booth, Duane Simpkins and Johnny Rhodes,” Baxter recalled. “I desired to perform like those players. Joe Smith, with whom I remain close to this day, served as a major inspiration for me to go to Maryland.”
During a recent interview on Glenn Clark Radio, Baxter recounted the same. “I recall thinking to myself as I watched them, ‘I want to play like those guys.'” I knew then and there that I wanted to go to Maryland. Yes, Maryland was always my first choice. That is, from the beginning. I was thinking, “I want to be there,” when I first spoke with Gary Williams during my recruitment process. And it’s been a dream ever since.”
The UMTerps’ profile also featured Williams recounting how he spotted Baxter, then a borderline top-100 recruit without a lot of high-level scholarship offers:
Baxter spent one postgraduate season at Hargrave Military Academy alongside Korleone Young, the Detroit Pistons’ 1998 NBA draft choice. Scouts filled the bleachers to watch Young play, but Williams was one of the few with his eyes drawn to the skilled big man. Many others didn’t view Baxter as an ACC caliber player. He was undersized and overweight at the time.
“Those guys wore military uniforms every day,” Williams said. “They had to get up very early in the morning, all those things. I think that really helped Lonny become a very disciplined basketball player. He was one of those guys I knew when he came in would work hard, and he certainly did that, reaching an incredible level as a college basketball player.”
“Lonny was our enforcer,” Williams said. “He was a big person, physically. We had Juan Dixon at about 160 pounds and Steve Blake at about 175, so we were a little small in the backcourt. Lonny made sure there was no messing around with those two guys.”
“The most important thing to Lonny was us winning,” Gary Williams said. “When Lonny is sitting there in the back, and you’re talking to him, he’s got that quiet presence. … He was like the silent enforcer and just a great presence on your team.
Maryland’s only two Final Fours and its lone national championship, in 2002, came with Baxter as a big piece of its engine, earning regional MVP honors twice. In the 2001 semis, the Terps were hampered by a questionable late foul on Baxter as they blew a big lead against Duke.
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