On Friday, May 29, a large crowd is expected to attend the homegoing celebration of Roscoe Orlando Baker, one of Boston’s community legends, at Twelfth Baptist Church, 160 Warren St. in Roxbury.

Baker, who meant so much to thousands of young men and women whose lives he enhanced through his work as a teacher, mentor and community leader, died May 27 at the age of 88.

Born in Thomasville, Georgia, on July 29, 1937, to Edwina Baker Curtis, he was raised in the humble home of Gustavas and Edna Haynes, which produced exceptional men (the late Douglas, Vincent, Roy and Michael) whose lives left indelible marks on Roxbury and the world.

Baker always credited the sacred foundation of his family home for every achievement in his life. “I would not have become the man that I became without the love and caring provided by my family,” Baker said to this reporter during a more five-decade relationship. “I was blessed to have some of the best teachers anyone could ask for, right in my home. My mother and father taught their children the value of religion, character, purpose, integrity and love of community.

I just followed the lead of the great people who made up my household.”

Baker’s homegoing celebration is being held at the church that his brother, the late Rev. Michael E. Haynes, made into a monumental community religious institution. Both brothers carved out legendary names for themselves in Roxbury: Haynes from the pulpit and Baker from his work as the first Black director of the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club. Each possessed his own style in doing their jobs. Haynes, a magnificent and dynamic speaker on a national and global platform, was in the company of Black icons Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Nelson

Mandela. The younger Roscoe, a quiet leader of major impact, put his stamp on the lives of thousands of young people in the Black community through several generations.

I was introduced to Roscoe Baker by my late brother Lewis Graham just days after I arrived at Boston University. Lew spent his youth under the tutelage of “Mr. B” at the Boys and Girls Clubhouse. “Mr. B. was the ‘father figure’ for a fatherless guy like me, my three brothers, and for every child that came under his care,” Graham once said.

Graham would captain the Boston University basketball team before graduating and going on to a distinguished career as an executive at Logan Airport and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), just one of thousands of successful lives produced through the mentoring of Baker. Upon our initial meeting, I could see what my brother meant when he described Baker as a man who impacted lives. Baker (like his brother Rev. Haynes) had a presence about him that told

you that he was a man of substance. I would come to have a special relationship with both men, but I spent more time with Roscoe during our more than 30 years as teammates on the Bruins, Souls, and Spurs basketball teams.

The man who was known to teammates and foes as “Ros, B, Mr. B. and Scoe” produced championship teams at every level of basketball he competed in.

Much of his athletic history centers on his heroics as a four-sport athlete at James P. Timilty Junior High School (under legendary coach Fred Gumbs), followed by a Hall of Fame career at Delaware State College, where he graduated in 1961 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and biology.

As a pitching prospect for the Phillies, and a talented enough basketball player to be invited to the Boston Celtics tryout camps during the years of the Bill Russell era, Mr. B. more than held his own against Bob Cousy, Sam and K. C. Jones, while forging a lifelong relationship with Arnold “Red” Auerbach and many other National Basketball Association players. His special relationship with the late Kenny Hudson (the NBA’s first Black referee), and community leaders Jeep Jones, Rudy Cabral and Alfreda Harris would produce the famed “Boston Shootout” basketball tournament, which became one of the premier high school roundball events in America. The Shootout has an alumni of more than 300 NBA players.

The Boston Shootout gained national attention but was just one of a list of successful programs that Roscoe Baker produced as director of the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club. The Shootout gave Boston high school players a chance to showcase their talents against the top players from the basketball hotbeds (New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago, California, etc.) across the United States.

“I wanted to help put Boston on the national basketball map,” Baker said. “For years, I worked with and helped to develop high-level basketball players. Many of them did not get the exposure needed to raise them to the level of a Jimmy Walker (All-American guard at Providence College, considered one of Boston’s greatest basketball players who got his ‘chance to succeed in life’ thanks to Baker’s close friendship with Sam Jones, who paid for Walker to attend Laurinburg Prep, in North Carolina, which opened the door to Providence College and the NBA), to brothers Russell and Ronnie Lee; the latter, played in the “Boston Shootout,” Owen Wells, Steve Strothers, all NBA Players that honed their skills at the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club.

Add to that list the names of female basketball stars like Medina Dixon and others, and you gain a true perspective into the life of Mr. Baker. He was there, guiding them all.

His relationship with Kenny Hudson also led him into a distinguished career as a top-flight college referee, becoming instrumental in guiding many young men and women into careers as referees. After becoming a member of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials IAABO 27, he rapidly ascended to the office of president of the chapter. His 50-year officiating career was highlighted by his appointment as one of the first officials of the newly formed “Big East” Conference. He refereed into his late 70s.

The legend of Roscoe Baker grew when he became the first Black director of the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club in 1969, paving the way for future Black leaders in youth development and community organizations. Under his leadership, the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club expanded its focus beyond recreation to include education, mentorship and life development programs that positively impacted thousands of young people and families throughout the community.

Baker, along with the previously named community leaders, established the Boston Neighborhood Basketball League (BNBL), the oldest and most respected youth basketball league in the nation.

I will forever cherish the memory of Roscoe Orlando Baker for the impact he had on my life and on the lives of thousands of people he touched during his journey through this life. On the court, he was my longest-standing teammate. Off the court, I considered him a man to be respected. For all who will read this article and attend his homegoing ceremony on Friday, I ask you to remember this man for all the good he did in his life. His detractors will have their thoughts and opinions, but it should be remembered that we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory.

Rest in Eternal Peace, Roscoe Baker — our forever My Captain.