Shirley Baker

As an architect Jack Shirley Baker received an Honorable Mention at the 1932 Los Angeles Games in the Art Competitions in the category Architecture, Designs For Town Planning. He received the Mention together with Dan Ormsbee and John Branner for their work Design for the Stanford Stadium. In 1923 he went into private practice, and for a period of 10 years was a partner in the firm of Baker & Ormsbee in general and extremely varied engineering practice.

The work is not listed in the 1932 exhibition catalog, just the photos of the stadium made by Berton Crandall. He likely had submitted the photos, as the architects were awarded an Honorable Mention. The first Stanford Stadium was opened in 1921 as an arena for football and athletics to former plans by C. B. Wing after only 18 weeks of construction. In 1927, under the leadership of Shirley Baker, additional tiers increased the capacity from 60,000 to over 85,000. In 1984, football matches took place here as part of the Los Angeles Olympics, as well as at the 1994 World Cup (men) and 1999 (women). In 2005, the stadium was demolished and replaced by a new building.