Who is Elgin Baylor's wife Elaine Baylor? Beautiful love story after tragic death at 86 and past with Ruby Saunder
Elgin Baylor was an all-time great. A Laker known as “Mr Inside”, the 86-year-old is remembered as one of the most underappreciated stars to ever grace the court. “He was Kobe [Bryant] before Kobe,” one fan said. On Monday, March 22, 2021, the Hall of Fame basketball player — one of the great NBA stars of the 1960s — died peacefully of natural causes surrounded by his wife and daughter. He was 86.
Baylor was surrounded by his wife, Elaine, and his daughter, Krystal. “Elgin was the love of my life and my best friend,” said Elaine. “And like everyone else, I was in awe of his immense courage, dignity and the time he gave to all fans. At this time we ask that I and our family be allowed to mourn his passing in privacy.”
11-time All-Star
— 𝓛𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓸 (̷M̷a̷v̷s ̷S̷Z̷N) 🧊 (@texas_landon) March 22, 2021
10-time All-NBA
Averaged 34-38 PPG
Elgin Baylor. A Laker known as "Mr. Inside". An all-time great. Elgin Baylor was one of the most underappreciated stars to ever grace the court. He was Kobe before Kobe.
RIP Legend.
🌹9/16/34 ~ 3/22/21 🌹 pic.twitter.com/df1TF2jKBn
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As the world mourns his death, let's take a look at the legacy he left behind, his wife and his children.
Who was Elgin Baylor?
Born on September 16, 1934, in Washington, DC, Baylor was the youngest in his family with two elder brothers and two sisters. He played 14 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, appearing in eight NBA Finals. A gifted shooter, strong rebounder, and an accomplished passer, he dazzled Lakers fans with his trademark hanging jump shots. Not many know Elgin “Rabbit” Baylor had two basketball-playing brothers, Sal and Kermit.
A heartwarming statement released by NBA read, “He played one season at the College of Idaho before transferring to Seattle University, where he led the team to their first NCAA championship game before being drafted first overall by the Minneapolis Lakers in 1958.” Did you know in 1977, Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame?
Superstar of his era
“Elgin was THE superstar of his era — his many accolades speak to that,” said Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss.
“He was one of the few Lakers players whose career spanned from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. But more importantly, he was a man of great integrity, even serving his country as a U.S. Army reservist, often playing for the Lakers only during his weekend pass. He is one of the all-time Lakers greats with his No. 22 jersey retired in the rafters and his statue standing guard in front of STAPLES Center. He will always be part of the Lakers legacy. On behalf of the entire Lakers family, I’d like to send my thoughts, prayers and condolences to Elaine and the Baylor family.”
Why did Elgin Baylor retire?
Baylor averaged 24.9 points, 15.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists as a rookie en route to Rookie of the Year honors. Baylor would go on to play 14 seasons for the Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers, earning NBA All-Star honors 11 times with 10 First Team All-NBA appearances, NBA's statement read.
Baylor finally retired nine games into the 1971–72 season because of his nagging knee problems. At the time, he missed being part of two great achievements — the very next game after his retirement was first of an NBA-record 33 consecutive wins. Not just that, the Lakers went on to win the NBA championship that season! Interestingly, the Lakers awarded Baylor a 1972 Championship Ring even though he had retired!
Racial discrimination lawsuit
On November 3, 1983, his No. 22 jersey was retired and a statue honoring Baylor was unveiled on April 6, 2018. For 22 years, Baylor was the general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers and went on to win the NBA Executive of the Year Award in 2006. Shortly before the 2008-09 season, he was relieved of his executive duties by the Clippers.
At 74, Baylor argued that the Clippers terminated him because of his age and race, The New York Times reported. A large salary disparity was noticed between other managers and Baylor, an African-American. “This is one of our legends, and I just, it makes me sad to read about that stuff,” Commissioner David Stern said at the time. After Baylor left his job, the allegations in the lawsuit surfaced and while Baylor claimed he was fired; the organization said he resigned. The racial discrimination lawsuit was later dropped
Nonetheless, Baylor fought for equality through his strong words. In an old interview, Elgin spoke about facilities for White children being much better than those for Blacks. “The Black kids didn’t have a playground with swings, swimming pool, tennis courts and volleyball like the White kids did,” recalled Elgin. “We played basketball with a tennis ball because we didn’t have a basketball. We would sneak into the White kids park at night to play on their nice courts and the police would run us off.”
Who was Ruby Saunder?
Elgin Baylor tied the knot with his wife Ruby Saunder in 1958 and was happily married to her until 1974. In an old photo, Baylor could be seen helping his wife, Ruby, with a term paper for her “U” of Minnesota education course. In the black-and-white photograph, the two could be seen lovingly looking at each other.
The couple went on to give birth to a son named Alan and a daughter named Alison.
Who is Elgin Baylor's wife Elaine Baylor?
Elgin later fell in love with Elaine and married her. The strong prayer of his wife guided him throughout his many achievements. A life-long Baptist, Elgin shared, “I always believe that whatever I did in life, I always prayed. I believed that I served a loving and forgiving God.”
Shedding light on her life, Elaine said in an interview, “I was born in New Orleans and grew up in the Baptist church. [I come from] a working-class family that went to school on scholarships and everything was due to prayer. I had God’s favor. That’s been my foundation and a part of my life.”
Prayer Warriors
Reflecting on how prayer was a major part of Elgin's life, Elaine added, “Elgin’s mother was a praying woman. She was always praying, always optimistic, always encouraging and always hopeful. Despite all of the stuff Elgin was dealing with growing up, she was always lifting him up – ‘It’s going to be alright, you’re doing fine.’”
Elgin recalled, “Once, we crash-landed in a cornfield in Iowa in a DC-3. I’ll never forget. It was snowing and the plane started shaking and the wind was rocking it. We started going lower everybody was praying, making promises to God even though they hadn’t been to church in so long,” said Elgin. “But really, I wasn’t scared. I just sat down and trusted in God and believed we were going to fine and we did land all right.”
The two prayer warriors added, “Always pray because if you don’t need it at the moment, you’ll be covered when you do need it. Cover yourself and your family and the people you love, situations and the things that you love. You can’t stop God’s manifestation from coming through. His hand is not suppressed by society. Hardship gives you a chance to move closer to God.”
The pair have a daughter named Krystal Baylor and Elgin is also survived by his sister, Gladys Baylor Barrett. Funeral arrangements are pending.