From Deseret News archives:
Prophet had skills to be some writer
I started scanning the rather lengthy article quickly, looking for facts and figures I could poach, when I found myself slowing down and reading each paragraph.
The writing was different than the usual stock newspaper prose. It had an unhurried kind of poetic cadence to it that painted vivid descriptions and brought the subject matter to life. I thought maybe I was reading Steinbeck.
The article had been written when Baker was named head coach at Utah State University in 1950 after developing a habit of winning state championships at Salt Lake City's Granite High School, where he won six.
Following that hard news at the top of the article came the artful sketch of Baker's life. It contained such writing gems as follows:
"His grandparents joined the LDS Church in England. They came to Utah by way of Australia, and their long travels ended at the village of Adamsville where the Mineral Mountains slope to the desert. There from the side of a hill they carved a dugout which became their first home ...
"
... With $400 borrowed from the Milford Bank he went to Logan to get an education. The money took care of his needs for the first year, and during the following summer he worked at hauling houses from Newhouse to Milford, and then took a contract doing grading for the Union Pacific in the desert north of Modena. Cecil Baker knows what it means to sweat in the sun for an education."I finished the article and looked to the top to see who could have written such a fine profile. This was the byline:
"By Gordon B. Hinckley"
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