Raymond "Ray" Baker (1968)

Ray Baker has been involved in the banking and the real estate industry for the past 35 years. Ray he has played an active role in numerous real estate transactions throughout the metropolitan Denver region, Pueblo and the Western Slope.

Ray has been instrumental in changing the face of Denver's sports scene. He served as the chair of both the Denver Metropolitan Major League Baseball Stadium District and the Denver Metropolitan Football Stadium District, helping to ensure that both stadiums were completed on time and on budget.

In 1986, he and former professional basketball player Bill Hanzlik started the Gold Crown Foundation serving as its Chairmen. The nonprofit group began with about 150 kids at a basketball camp. Today, more than 20,000 kids participate in Gold Crown Foundation programs and it has become one of the largest junior high basketball leagues in the state. In 1998, Gold Crown opened the Coca-Cola All Star Park in Lakewood, an athletic field for kids that is a mini-replica of Coors Field. Ray Baker has left his mark on the Mile High City, both in helping children realize the values that come from athletic competition, and in changing the landscape of the city with two of the nation’s most beautiful sports facilities.

Over the years Ray has served on many boards and commissions in government, non-profits and professional organizations.

In his spare time, Ray coached girl's softball at Lakewood High School. In 1997 and 1998 Ray’s girl's softball team won the state championship and he was twice named Coach of the Year by the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and the Jefferson County School Athletic Directors. With all of Ray's many accomplishments, one of his proudest moments was when the Lakewood Softball Field was named in his honor.