Maryland Athletics 2024 Hall of Fame Spotlight: Lonny Baxter

Few college basketball players achieved Lonny Baxter's success at the University of Maryland. But what made his triumphs much more rewarding was his constant success when faced with adversity. 

Baxter, 45, is best known to Terps fans for using his bruising strength and soft touch around the basket to help Maryland men's basketball win its first national championship in 2002. However, adding to his long list of accomplishments, the local prodigy from Silver Spring, Md. will be inducted into the University of Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 18. 

"When I received the news that I was going in, I was very ecstatic," Baxter said. "It's a great honor because few people can say they entered the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame. There are a lot of great athletes, and there are many reasons why they couldn't have chosen me. But they did."

Baxter was a 2002 Wooden Award All-American and three-time All-ACC honoree. He earned first team honors in 2000 and second-team accolades as a junior and senior. He's one of just 15 Terps to garner All-ACC honors three times. 

The big man is also a two-time NCAA Regional MVP and All-ACC Tournament selection. He was the 10th player in NCAA history to earn MVP honors in consecutive seasons in 2001 and 2002. Baxter accomplished the feat while guiding Maryland to back-to-back Final Four appearances. 

Baxter finished his career as the Maryland men's basketball co-record holder for most career starts in the NCAA Tournament (16). He also left College Park as the second-leading rebounder (998) and sixth-leading scorer of all-time (1858). More than two decades later, only two Terps have since scored more points, and none have accumulated more rebounds.

Despite all the individual accolades in Baxter's career from 1998-2002, his Hall of Fame head coach at Maryland says winning was his number one priority.  

"The most important thing to Lonny was us winning," Gary Williams said. "When Lonny is sitting there in the back, and you're talking to him, he's got that quiet presence. ... He was like the silent enforcer and just a great presence on your team."

Growing up in the College Park area, Baxter always wanted to play basketball at Maryland. He attended Anacostia High School, leading them to the D.C. city championship and foreshadowing his future. Baxter played the game on his soon-to-be home court, Cole Field House. As Baxter always did in his career, he lived up to the moment. He was selected MVP of the game as he scored a career-high 35 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots. 

"I remember being in high school watching Joe Smith, Exree Hipp, Keith Booth, Duane Simpkins and Johnny Rhodes," Baxter said. "I wanted to play like those guys. Joe Smith was a big inspiration, somebody I'm still close with to this day, for me to come to Maryland."

Baxter spent one postgraduate season at Hargrave Military Academy alongside Korleone Young, the Detroit Pistons' 1998 NBA draft choice. Scouts filled the bleachers to watch Young play, but Williams was one of the few with his eyes drawn to the skilled big man. Many others didn't view Baxter as an ACC caliber player. He was undersized and overweight at the time.   

"Those guys wore military uniforms every day," Williams said. "They had to get up very early in the morning, all those things. I think that really helped Lonny become a very disciplined basketball player. He was one of those guys I knew when he came in would work hard, and he certainly did that, reaching an incredible level as a college basketball player." 

Baxter, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound big man, did what Williams hoped and made an immediate impact at Maryland in 1998-99. He was an Honorable Mention All-ACC freshman team selection and promptly produced iconic moments. Against North Texas on Dec. 23, 1998, Baxter set the school record for best-single game shooting performance. He went 10-for-10, also tying the school record for most consecutive field goals made in a game. 

The freshman later started 10 of the team's final 11 games after fellow big man Obinna Ekezie suffered a season-ending injury. Baxter was thrust into the mix and helped his team achieve an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 berth for the fourth time in six years.

As a sophomore in 1999-2000, Baxter was one of just two players to start all 35 games for the Terps. He led the ACC in offensive rebounds (3.6), ranked second in field goal percentage (.533) and rebounds (8.8) and placed third with 2.3 blocks per game. Baxter also posted his first 30-point performance with a 31-point outing against NC State on Feb. 6, 2000.

Unfortunately, the Terps couldn't build on their success from the year prior. They made the ACC championship game but fell to Duke and lost to UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. During the offseason, Maryland welcomed Byron Mouton, a transfer from Tulane. 

Mouton, from the small town of Rayne, Louisiana, was now set to play near a big city on a campus much larger than his previous institution. He would also be gearing up to play in the ACC, a considerable increase in competition and media attention he was accustomed to in the Conference USA (C-USA) at the time. Mouton admitted that he was nervous. He became roommates with Baxter, and the first time meeting him, he helped the newcomer put together his dorm room bed.

"Lonny just made everything really comfortable for me, being a kid from a small town and being exposed to this big university playing in the ACC," Mouton said. "Lonny was an incredible teammate and friend off the court."

Baxter saw more personal and team success alongside Mouton in 2000-01. Just 10 games into the season, he scored a career-high 32 points against Norfolk State on Dec. 23, 2000. The big man helped lead his team to the program's first NCAA Tournament Final Four appearance while boasting numerous honors, including team MVP alongside Juan Dixon. 

However, Maryland's season came to a heartbreaking end against Duke on March 31, 2001. Playing for the right to advance to the NCAA championship game, the Terrapins allowed the Blue Devils to erase a 22-point first half and walk away unscathed. Adversity hit, and Baxter and the Terps were distraught. 

Williams says he gave the team three weeks off after the loss, but Baxter, as a team leader, got everyone back in the gym within a week. Williams, doing his part to motivate the team, declared the Terps national champions ahead of the season in front of a sold-out Midnight Madness crowd. 

"Some things that happened weren't really in our control, but it's life, it happens," Baxter said while reflecting on the loss to Duke. "We felt like we should have played in a national championship game, but we didn't. We just wanted to show everybody that we were for real. We just came out that next year, jumped out on everybody and took the whole NCAA by storm. … To return and redeem ourselves the way we did was just something like a fairy tale story."

The following season, during Baxter's senior year in 2001-02, Maryland dominated. The Terps finished the season 32-4, a program best in wins and winning percentage (.889). They went 15-1 in conference play, securing the regular-season ACC title. In the NCAA Tournament, they secured the title with a 64-52 win over Indiana. 

Baxter and Dixon became the highest-scoring tandem (4,127 points) in NCAA history to win a national championship. The pair also joined Len Elmore and Tom McMillen in 1974 as the only other First Team All-Americans on the same team in Maryland basketball history.

"Lonny was our enforcer," Williams said. "He was a big person, physically. We had Juan Dixon at about 160 pounds and Steve Blake at about 175, so we were a little small in the backcourt. Lonny made sure there was no messing around with those two guys."

The Chicago Bulls selected Baxter with the No. 44 overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft. His lifelong dream came true. Baxter spent two seasons in Chicago before playing one season each for five other teams. His NBA career lasted from 2002-06. 

However, Baxter enjoyed success playing overseas from 2006-13. He became an Italian League champion in his first full season in Europe. Baxter played for a handful of other clubs in Spain, Greece, Turkey, Russia and Venezuela. In 2011, he was named to the Russian League All-Symbolic Second Team. 

"I played about a good 10 years professionally," Baxter said. "I got to see the world, go to so many different places and meet so many different people. Just a dream come true for a local kid from Silver Spring."

Baxter currently works for Koons of Silver Spring's Ford dealership. He thanked his teammates, coaches and all others involved with the Maryland men's basketball program who made his Hall of Fame career possible. 

"The guy is always positive," Mouton, who remains a close friend of Baxter, said. "He's very happy and in a very good place right now doing something he loves. Every time I'm around him, I'm just a happy person because he's always smiling and laughing, cracking jokes on me."