Jim Baker coaching Catawba in 2007. Photo By Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Staff report

ROCK HILL, S.C. — North Rowan graduate and Catawba College and Salisbury-Rowan Hall of Famer Jim Baker took his place in the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame on Thursday in ceremonies held in conjunction with the league’s spring meetings.

Baker was inducted along with Tusculum’s Tommy Arnett, Wingate’s Anna Atkinson and Mars Hill’s Jonas Randolph.

Baker, a 1978 Catawba graduate, is one of the winningest coaches in SAC men’s basketball history. He coached 20 seasons at Catawba, with nine 20-win teams. His teams won six regular-season titles and six tournament championships, with 94 percent of his student-athletes graduating. He coached five Catawba Hall of Famers.

Baker was SAC Coach of the Year five times and Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 1998.

He has coached in the high school ranks for many years and had a 95-1 record with two state titles in his last three seasons at Central Cabarrus. He was the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year for 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Baker coaches now at Cannon School.