Hall of Fame President David Baker (AP Photo/Bill Feig)
THIS IS EPISODE 456 OF THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST
Since 2014, David Baker has been the president and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At 6-foot-9 and 400 pounds, Baker is an imposing figure, but he’s also the one guy every former NFL player loves during Super Bowl week, as Baker is the guy who knocks on the door and congratulates the new inductees every year to the Hall.
In 2018, the Pro Football Hall of Fame was voted the “Best Attraction for Sports Fans” in the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest.
Before his football governing days, Baker played professional basketball in Switzerland and worldwide with a Christian basketball team that beat the best in the world. He was elected mayor and councilman of Irvine, Calif., the country’s first master-planned city, and served for 12 years as the commissioner of the Arena Football League.
Baker is the father of two boys — Ben, who is the director of broadcasting at NASCAR, and Sam, who played left tackle for the Atlanta Falcons and currently serves as a coach for the JSerra High School (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) football team. David and his wife, Colleen, also have a daughter, Leyla, and a son, Michael, and are the proud grandparents of eight beautiful grandchildren.
On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Baker about the parallels of football and Scripture, his job of telling football players that they’re in the Hall of Fame, and the experience of telling Jimmy Johnson and Bill Cowher in person on a live broadcast that they were going to Canton. He’s a strong leader and shares how his walk with the Lord guides his work each day.
Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young points Heavenward, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
If the Carolina Panthers are to repeat as NFC South champions in 2026-27, leaving Philadelphia on Sunday with a victory over the Eagles — who were playing without starting QB Jalen Hurts and starting RB Saquon Barkley — was essential. And that’s just what Carolina did after its workmanlike 25-14 win, which improved the Panthers to 3-2 on the season and gave them a two-game lead in the loss column in the divisional race.
Carolina was led once again by quarterback Bryce Young, who continued his spectacular start to the season with 281 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and no turnovers. In the process, he set a franchise record for touchdown passes through five games with 11, and he leads the entire NFL in passing yards per game (309.8).
“First and foremost, all glory to God,” Young told CBS in an on-field interview moments after the final whistle. “I’m nothing without my Lord and Savior.”
His postgame comments were not the first time Young had publicly acknowledged his Father in Heaven on the field on Sunday; he also bowed his head in prayer when he saw an Eagles defender on the ground injured in the second quarter.
“First and foremost, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” he said. “Without Him I couldn’t be here. And through Him all things are possible.”
Then immediately after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft by Carolina, Young told ESPN, “I’m blessed. I want to thank God for allowing me to be here.”
Now 25 and an early-season contender for 2026 NFL MVP, Young is on a career trajectory that has almost completely turned around. He struggled as a rookie as his team went 2-15 in 2023-24. The next season didn’t start any better, as Young threw three interceptions without a touchdown and the Panthers started 0-2. Young was benched before the third game, with no timetable for his return. He did eventually return to the starting lineup later that season.
He was asked about his 2024 benching on “The Pivot Podcast” this past February, and he described that time as a “blessing.”
“That was one of the first times in a professional sense that I had no choice,” Young said on the podcast. “I think that wasn’t an accident. I think God put me there to know that faith is real, for me to strengthen my faith. Really, for me to be able to experience God in a different way.”
Young knows the adversity he faced early in his NFL career was simply one step in a lifelong journey of God drawing the quarterback into a deeper relationship with Himself.
“I’m based in faith,” Young said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast while at Alabama in 2022. “I’m blessed to have the family that I do that introduced me [to Christ] when I was young. Throughout my life, my relationship has grown with the Lord and my faith has improved.
“Through that, I work to be the best version of myself that I can be, and to embody Christ in all that I do.”
On the field, Young will seek to continue his hot start next week against the division-rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-5). Kickoff is set for Charlotte on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST, FEATURING JOSH LINDBLOM & SCOTT LINEBRINK
On today’s Sports Spectrum podcast, former MLB pitchers Josh Lindblom and Scott Linebrink discuss the topic of identity and finding our purpose and worth outside of sports.
