When Lightning Struck the Outhouse
A Tribute to a Great Coach Ralph “Sporty” Carpenter
George Baker Jr.

This book has been a labor of love that, in retrospect, came easy to me. I drew from sixteen years of daily contact with Coach Carpenter. I also garnered the thoughts of his friends, players, and opponents.
We laughed long and hard almost every day. We passed along inside jokes that only he and I understood, most of which I cannot repeat in the interest of decorum.We traveled the world.We won and lost and suffered the outrageous slings and arrows of disgruntled fans. We tasted the sweet wine of victory and we left an indelible mark in the annals of small college football that is remarkable. He was, in the vernacular of my south Georgia upbringing, “much of a man!”

In the hospital he was Coach, calling you boy and telling you to come here and do this or hurry up and do this, etc. “Go over there and get me a Gazette,” “these people don’t have the Gazette here,” you know, just like he was still coaching me.That was Coach. I felt as much compelled to do his bidding as I felt honored that he would ask me.
—Dr. Terrance Anthony “Tab” Brown

George Golman Baker Jr. was born in Thomasville, Alabama, and was reared in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. He has a BA and MSE from Ouachita Baptist University and a BS from Henderson State University. George served with the United States Army during the Vietnam conflict and was discharged as a first lieutenant. George coached college football for thirty years and finished his career teaching physical education and recreation at Henderson State University. George resides in Arkadelphia with
his wife, Beverly.

January 2012
6x9, 240 pages, 42 photographs
$19.95 paper
978-0-9835615-3-8

Distributed for Phoenix International.