Perry Baker (born June 29, 1986) is an American former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played for the United States national rugby sevens team. He is a two-time World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year. At the time of his retirement, with 293 tries Baker ranked first among Americans and second among all international players in tries scored. He also ranked 7th on the all-time point-scoring list with 1,467.

American football

Baker played

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for

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

Fairmont State University Fairmont State University is a public university in Fairmont, West Virginia. History Fairmont State University’s roots reach back to the formation of public education in the state of West Virginia. The first private normal school in West Vi ...

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. He graduated from Fairmont State in 2010 with a degree in

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. Baker was signed by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

of the

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(NFL) in July 2011, but he suffered a knee injury that cut short his NFL career. Baker played two seasons for the

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of the

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from 2012 to 2013.

Rugby career

Early career

Baker was introduced to rugby by one of Baker's former high school football coaches in 2006. Baker played with the Daytona Beach Coconuts in 2012, leading them to a ninth-place finish at the club sevens national tournament. Baker took up rugby full-time in 2013 and joined the Tiger Rugby Academy in Columbus, Ohio, working under coach Paul Holmes.

U.S. national team

2014–16

Baker signed a full-time contract with the U.S. Eagles in July 2014 to join the residency program at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in San Diego, California. Baker made his debut at the 2014 Gold Coast Sevens in

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, where he entered the U.S. team's first match against Canada as a second-half substitute. Baker's first start and first try came in the U.S. team's third match of that tournament, against Argentina; he scored his first hat-trick also in that tournament, in the knockout rounds against Portugal. Baker played an instrumental role in the U.S. team's first-ever victory over New Zealand, scoring both tries in their 14–12 victory at the 2015 Dubai Sevens. During the 2015-16 World Rugby Sevens Series Baker scored 48 tries during the season, a record high for a US player. Baker was second only to South Africa's Seabelo Senatla in tries for the season, and Baker earned a place on the World Rugby dream team for the 2015–16 season. Baker was a member of the United States men's rugby team at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Rio. He scored a try in the second half of the team's final pool match against Fiji. The team did not advance past pool play.

2016–2020

Baker had a productive 2016–17 season. At the 2016 South Africa Sevens, in the absence of regular captain Madison Hughes, Baker was named U.S. team captain for the tournament. At the 2017 Singapore Sevens, Baker ran 100 meters from his own in-goal area to score a try against Wales, which was voted by World Rugby as one of the tries of the tournament; in the match against Scotland Baker beat four defenders to set up a try for Stephen Tomasin, which was also voted as one of the best tries of the 2017 Singapore Sevens tournament. At the 2017 Paris Sevens Baker scored another length-of-the-field try, which was voted one of the best tries of the tournament. Baker finished the 2016-17 World Series with 57 tries, more than any other player. Baker's accomplishments were recognized by World Rugby. He was one of seven players named to the 2017 World Series Dream Team. He received the 2017 World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year award, beating out Fiji's Jerry Tuwai and South Africa's Roscko Specman. Baker started slowly in the 2017–18 season, missing almost all of the first two tournaments due to a concussion. Baker was an important part of the U.S. victory at the 2018 USA Sevens, the team's first tournament win on home soil. Baker scored all of the team's three tries in the 17–12 quarterfinal win over England. In the semifinal against Fiji with the U.S. down 0–7 at halftime, Baker sparked the team with two second-half tries for a 19–7 comeback win. In the final against Argentina, Baker opened the scoring with a try en route to a 28–0 victory. Baker was leading all players in tries scored for the 2017–18 season before a shoulder injury would cause him to miss the last few tournaments of the season. Baker had a quiet 2018–19 season, missing several tournaments due to injury. On February 29, 2020, Baker became the second USA player, after his teammate Carlin Isles, to score 200 tries. He completed this feat in a 33–12 victory match against

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during the 2019-20 World Rugby Sevens Series in

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2024 Summer Olympics

At the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris, Baker was the team's leading scorer in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, led by four tries scored in a win against Uruguay national rugby sevens team that qualified the Eagles for a berth in the quarterfinals for the first time. Baker led all players in the Paris Olympics with six total tries and 30 points scored (tied with Fiji's Iowane Teba).

Retirement

Baker announced in March 2024 that he intended to retire following the

in Paris.

Return from retirement

Baker came out of retirement to play for the Kalinga Black Tigers in the Rugby Premier League.

Season by season

Family

Baker's older brother

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is a

and

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player. Perry is the nephew of former NFL player and coach Wes Chandler."USA rugby sevens team shocks the world, defeats New Zealand"
''Washington Post'', Jake Russell, December 4, 2015.

References

External links

* *
Perry Baker
at USA Rugby
archive December 1, 2018
* * *
Perry Baker
at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Perry 1986 births Living people American football wide receivers United States international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players Fairmont State Fighting Falcons football players Sportspeople from New Smyrna Beach, Florida Philadelphia Eagles players Pittsburgh Power players Players of American football from Volusia County, Florida Olympic rugby sevens players for the United States Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Rugby Awards winners Rugby sevens players at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen African-American rugby union players Rugby union players from Florida Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics