Chip Baker didn’t see himself as a hero 25 years ago — and he still doesn’t.
The former Florida State assistant baseball coach said the moment in 2001 on California Highway 101 near San Francisco happened so quickly he barely had time to process any emotion.
“It all happened so fast,” Baker said.
Once the speeding bus slowed and came to rest on the shoulder of the road — yards from San Francisco Bay — reality set in.
“God was with us that day — and so was Chip Baker,” said Tony McQuade, 44, a freshman outfielder on the Seminoles’ 2001 team and now the principal at Tallahassee’s Montford Middle School. “You don’t really realize it in the moment. It’s tragic, but you don’t realize how tragic it could have been.
“Now, we all have families, kids — and all of that might never have happened if it wasn’t for Chip.”
A rare FSU baseball team visit to Stanford revives a harrowing memory
FSU’s baseball team (29‑11 overall, 12‑6 ACC) returns to Northern California this weekend, April 24–26, for an ACC series at Stanford (17‑19, 9‑11) as the Seminoles look to boost their NCAA Tournament résumé down the stretch.
It’s a rare visit: FSU and Stanford last met in 2012, and this marks only the team’s third trip to Palo Alto since 2001.
That February, 25 years ago, the Seminoles narrowly escaped disaster on Highway 101, a high‑traffic, multi‑lane highway running along the western edge of San Francisco Bay.
Baker and longtime head coach Mike Martin — who retired in 2019 after 40 seasons and died in 2024 — took control of a charter bus traveling nearly 70 mph after its 65‑year‑old driver suffered a fatal heart attack behind the wheel. None of around 40 people on board, including players, coaches and family members, were injured.
The team had just arrived at San Francisco International Airport and boarded the bus, which was scheduled to take it 15 miles to Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch before a tour of Pacific Bell Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The three-game series against Stanford opened the following day.
FSU pitching coach Jamey Shouppe and his wife were following behind in a rental car.
“We saw the bus start to swerve and thought, ‘What is going on?’” said Shouppe, now the head baseball coach at Florida A&M. “When it stopped along the shoulder, the door flew open and people started coming out. We knew something wasn’t right. When you look back, people really don’t realize what Chip did. That could have been devastating.”
Baker, with his 5‑year‑old daughter Katie sitting on his lap, was seated directly behind the driver. They had been talking about San Francisco when the driver pointed to Pacific Bell Park across the bay. When Baker turned back around, he noticed the driver slumped forward.
Baker immediately stood and reached for the steering wheel, pulling the driver upright as he sat on his lap. Martin, seated in the front row across the aisle, leaped up and pulled the driver’s foot off the accelerator.
Baker then steered the bus, which had been traveling at 70-mph, across three lanes of traffic and safely onto the shoulder.
“It was probably only a quarter-of-a-mile – it felt that far,” Baker said. “It was a standard stick (shift), and I had to put my foot on the clutch and knock it out of gear. The bus started to wiggle a little bit. Every car seemed to disappear and we were able to get to the side of the road.”
Outfielder Mike Futrell, a junior from Lincoln seated near the middle of the bus, dialed 911 on his cellphone. Martin moved the team away as an FSU athletic trainer — and later paramedics — unsuccessfully attempted to revive the driver. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Now living in Jacksonville, Futrell said the experience remains vivid.
“When you hear about tragic accidents involving teams, people on buses, I’m one thousand percent certain that would have been us — in the bay — if Chip didn’t jump into that seat,” said Futrell, 46. “It’s been 25 years, and I remember every detail like it was yesterday. When you’re young, you think you know everything. You don’t realize how impactful something like that is until later in life.”
Pitcher Justin Lord, seated near the middle of the bus, recalled Baker saying, “Hey boys, look over there — that’s Candlestick Park.” When Lord turned back, he noticed the driver slumped forward, held upright only by his seatbelt. Baker, Lord said, acted immediately.
“I truly felt like God’s hand was on us that day,” said Lord, a pitching coach in the Washington Generals’ organization. “It could have been deadly.”
Martin’s wife Carol, who did not make the trip, said her husband was “shook up pretty badly. Sadly, that poor driver (passed away). It was just amazing, a miracle, there wasn’t a terrible accident. The whole team could have been wiped out.”
Though the tour continued with another driver and the series ended in a sweep in dreary, cold weather at Stanford, those results fade against the memory of Highway 101. Baker has never called himself a hero — even if others do.
“Chip coached for the kids,” Shouppe said.
“For him to be the guy who prevented a tragedy fits who he was and how deeply he cared. God may have put him at Florida State for that one reason. He changed the trajectory of countless lives — not just players, but their families, too.
“That tragedy could have easily happened.”
Jim Henry is Tallahassee Democrat sports editor. Email him at jjhenry@tallahassee.com
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 25 years ago, an FSU bus veered toward disaster. A coach saved the day
Reporting by Jim Henry, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
