Elgin Baylor was born in 1934 in Washington, D.C., and was named for his father's favorite watch. A sports star at Spingarn High School, he didn't perform well academically and even dropped out for a while to work in a furniture store and to play basketball in the local recreational leagues.

An inadequate scholastic record kept him out of college until a friend arranged a scholarship at the College of Idaho, where he was expected to play basketball and football. After one season, the school dismissed the head basketball coach and restricted the scholarships. Seattle car dealer Ralph Monroe interested Baylor in Seattle University, and Baylor sat out a year to play for an amateur team while establishing eligibility at Seattle.

Baylor led the SU Chieftains to the NCAA championship game in 1958 (where they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats). Following his junior season, Baylor joined the Minneapolis Lakers for the 1958-59 season and moved with them to Los Angeles in 1960.

In his three collegiate seasons, one at Idaho and two at Seattle, Baylor averaged 31.3 points per game.

The Minneapolis Lakers used the No. 1 overall pick in the 1958 NBA Draft to select Baylor, then convinced him to skip his senior year at SU and instead join the pro ranks. The Lakers, several years removed from the glory days of George Mikan, were in trouble on the court and at the gate. The year prior to Baylor's arrival the Lakers finished 19-53 with a team that was slow, bulky and aging. Baylor, whom the Lakers signed to play for $20,000 per year (a great amount of money at the time), was the franchise's last shot at survival.

"If he had turned me down then, I would have been out of business", Minneapolis Lakers owner Bob Short told the Los Angeles Times in 1971. "The club would have gone bankrupt." Baylor was seen as the kind of player who could save a franchise. And he did.

As a rookie in 1958-59, Baylor finished fourth in the league in scoring (24.9 points per game), third in rebounding (15.0 rebounds per game), and eighth in assists (4.1 assists per game). He registered 55 points in a single game, the third-highest mark in league history behind Joe Fulks's 63 and Mikan's 61. Baylor won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and led the Lakers, from last place the previous year, to the NBA finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics on April 9, 1959, in the first four game sweep in finals history. Thus began the greatest rivalry in the history of the NBA finals between the Celtics and the Lakers. During his career, he helped lead the Lakers to the NBA Finals eight times (although never winning).

From the 1960-61 to the 1962-63 seasons, Baylor averaged 34.8, 38.3 and 34.0 points per game, respectively. His 38.3 point per game season average is the highest for any player other than Wilt Chamberlain. Baylor, a United States Army Reservist, was called to active duty during that season, and being stationed in Washington state, he could play for the Lakers only when on a weekend pass. However, despite playing only 48 games on the season, he still managed to score over 1,800 points.

The 71 points Baylor scored on November 15, 1960 was a record at the time. The 61 points he scored in game 5 of the NBA Finals in 1962 is still an NBA Finals record. An underrated rebounder, Baylor averaged 13.5 rebounds per game during his career, including a remarkable 19.8 rebounds per game during the 1960-61 season a season average exceeded by only five other players in NBA history. Baylor was a 10-time All-NBA First Team selection and went to the NBA All-Star Game 11 times.

Baylor began to be hampered with knee problems during the 1963-64 season. The problems culminated in a severe knee injury, suffered during the 1965 Western Division playoffs. Baylor, while still a very powerful force, was never quite the same , never again averaging above 30 points per game. During Baylor's career, the Lakers were a consistently powerful team, but were continuously overshadowed by the Boston Celtics.

Baylor finally retired nine games into the 1971-72 season because of his nagging knee problems. His retirement resulted in two great ironies. First, the Lakers' next game after his retirement was the first of an NBA record of 33 consecutive wins. Second, the Lakers went on to win the NBA Championship that season, something that Baylor never achieved. He finished his career with 23,149 points, 3,650 assists and 11,463 rebounds over 846 games.

Baylor was the last of the great undersized forwards, in a league where many guards are now that size or bigger. Baylor's signature shot was a running bank shot, which he was able to release quickly and effectively over taller players.

In 1977, Baylor was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1980 he was named to the NBA 35th Anniversary All-Time Team and again in 1996, he was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.