Purple Pak Has Big Shoes to Fill

Dave Baker on the Left poses with Cody Olson at Rice Eccles Stadium Last year


As a new athletic season at Weber State is upon us, Wildcat fans will be paying close attention to new faces and missing last year's seniors who no longer are with us. While Weber State fans and students will be missing last year's senior athletes such as former football players, Marcus Mailei and JD Folsom (Both of which are currently on NFL rosters) and basketball stars, Kellen McCoy and Daviin Davis, they are surely going to miss one David Baker, Chair of the student Purple Pak organization.

At every basketball game one could see Baker in the front row of the student section, clad all in purple, leading students in cheers, heckling opponents, and screaming at referees. For years Baker has been one of the biggest student fans the Wildcats have known. So it was not a surprise when a couple of years ago he was named as Chair of the Purple Pak.

Bev Rudd, Director of Alumni Relations and advisor for the Student Alumni Association and Purple Pak said Baker's enthusiasm as a fan also carried over to the way he carried out his responsibilities as Purple Pak Chair. Rudd said that under Baker's leadership Purple Pak enrollment increased as well as student attendance to games. She also said Baker was instrumental in beginning a tradition of taking students on road trips. "Never in the history of the school has Purple Pak attended so many away games. Dave was instrumental in filling the buses. He will be greatly missed."

Baker also said he will miss his association with the Purple Pak, "I will miss the association with the students and meeting new people on the various road trips we went on."

Now that Baker has graduated from Weber State, Rudd knows that finding someone who can build on what Baker has started will be difficult. Perhaps that is why she has named two Purple Pak Chairs to take Baker's place. Bryan Weir will be Chair of football and Louis Anderson Skillman IV will be the chair of basketball. Rudd is very impressed with both Skillman and Weir and says they are just as passionate as Baker and bring with them some great ideas for Weber State students. With these two in place as Purple Pak Chairs Rudd said, "The passion for Weber basketball lives on. We have some great guys to keep Purple Pak on track."

One of Rudd's focuses for this year is to keep the tradition of student road trips going. She already has a trip planned to go to Laramie for the Wildcats' football season opener, and she is working on other road trips for both football and basketball.

While Baker is no longer a WSU student or Purple Pak chair, he said that won't make him any less of a fan. He plans on being a season ticket holder for both football and basketball as well as attending several games on the road. "I will continue to bleed purple until the day I die. Weber state will always be near and dear to my heart."