Putting Up Big Numbers : Baker Has Averages of 13.3 and 7.0, Plus 4.64 and 1,510 for Burbank

Matt Baker popped into the Burbank High career center recently to check his grade-point average, a crucial piece of information for the Harvard recruiter he was soon to meet.

It was 4.64--even higher than what normally is considered perfect because of extra credit earned in accelerated classes.

Baker, a senior, has earned straight A’s in 13 consecutive semesters. He is at the head of his class, following in the footsteps of his brother, Brian, Burbank’s valedictorian in 1994.

On the Scholastic Assessment Test, a key college entrance exam, Baker scored 1,510 points out of 1,600.

Indeed, Baker is a scholar-athlete. In that order.

He was All-Foothill League last year in tennis and basketball, and this year he has led the Bulldog basketball team into the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs. Burbank plays at Buena tonight at 7:30 in the first round.

But as Baker strolled into Burbank’s career center recently, a girl typing at a computer recognized him as something more than a campus jock.

“Mr. Baker?” she said. “Is ‘at least’ two words?”

Baker smirked slightly and answered: “What do you think? It’s at least two words.”

Teachers say Baker, the clean-cut youngest child in a family of six academic achievers, is a tenacious studier who will not rest until he writes the perfect essay or masters a complicated problem.

“He’s brilliant and he’s persistent,” said Kathy Weiser, Baker’s instructor the past two years in college-level computer science.

“He earned the highest possible grade on my [advance-placement] test last year,” Weiser said. “I knew he would.”

But there is a problem Baker can’t seem to solve: His basketball future.

To play or not to play? That is the question.

Burbank Coach Ron Quarterman said Baker, a 6-foot-4 swingman, has the talent to play Division I basketball but, apparently, not the dedication.

Baker agrees.

“After I have a big game, I think, ‘I’ve got to play on the next level,’ ” Baker said. “And then other times, like finals week, I think, ‘How much better could I be in school if I wasn’t playing basketball?’

“With me, academics is absolutely superior. They come No. 1.”

Baker’s dedication to academics has caused him to struggle on the basketball court at times this season. At one point, with finals approaching, Baker was so distracted by the pressure to maintain straight-A’s that he was excused from practice to study.

“I told my son, ‘This is your senior year. You ought to relax,’ ” Baker’s father, George, said.

Not even George Baker, Burbank’s student body president in 1957 who graduated magna cum laude from USC, could slow Matt down.

Quarterman, who replaced Jeff Davis as coach late last summer, was counting on Baker to help with a quick and smooth transition.

“The kid has the skills and the kid can shoot it,” Quarterman said.

The Bulldogs were defending league champions and in the preseason were ranked No. 5 in the region by The Times. But Burbank, a team with plenty of talent and depth, could not repeat as champions. The Bulldogs enter the playoffs with a modest 14-10 record.

Baker’s production has dropped.

He led the team with averages of 14.5 points and 7.2 rebounds last season. But while maintaining a team-best average of seven rebounds, his scoring average has dropped to 13.3.

Pomona-Pitzer is the only university recruiting him as a basketball player.

Wherever he goes to college, Baker certainly won’t have a problem adjusting to a tougher academic load. Most students take fewer and easier classes in their senior year of high school, but Baker has six advance-placement courses.

Quarterman says recruiters would be calling Baker in droves if only he spent more time in the gym.

“There is enough time to dedicate yourself to both endeavors,” Quarterman said. “But I respect the kid. And wherever he goes, he can always walk on.”

It is easy to understand why Baker prefers to crack open a textbook rather than the door to a gymnasium.

His sister, Lisa, earned a degree in psychology from Brigham Young. His brother, Geoff, is a comparative literature major at BYU.

And his mother, Maureen, has a degree in education from BYU.

Matt last year received the Harvard Book Award, which goes to the best overall student at Burbank. He was captain of the tennis team and vice president of the Key Club, a student community service group tied in with the Kiwanis Club.

Baker wrote a monthly Key Club newsletter, served as lieutenant governor of 14 Key clubs and was chairman of a Key Club convention that drew an estimated 4,000 members.

He is a semifinalist for a National Merit Award and he is an Eagle Scout.

“He is a dream student,” Weiser said. “He is not arrogant. He is sweet and unassuming.”

Said Baker, “I suppose I’ll be valedictorian, but that’s not one of my major goals. I have a love for education. That’s more important to me. But it would be kind of fulfilling.”

Baker said the last time he received a grade lower than an A was in fifth grade. The subject was handwriting.

“I don’t know how my kids have been able to do all that they do,” said George Baker, a bank sales executive. “My senior year, I just kicked back.”

At USC, George was the only nonscholarship player on the freshman basketball team. He worked his way up to a role as sixth man before quitting after one season to concentrate on school.

“He’s much better [as a basketball player] than I was,” George said.

Baker has played every position, working both inside and outside. He has a natural touch as a shooter, as he showed recently in making six three-point baskets in a 27-point outburst against Burroughs.

If Canyon Coach Greg Hayes could take one player from any team in the league, he would choose Baker.

“He can do more than anyone else in the league,” Hayes said.

Baker will attend one of five universities next fall: Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, BYU or Pomona-Pitzer.

He’s unsure about basketball.

“I’d like to see myself playing in college,” he said. “I can’t imagine this year being the last time I played organized basketball.”