YD Baker, now 28 years old, used to be a football player. The sport was everything to him and he planned to ride it as far as it would take him. He went from Coffee High School to Scranton, Pennsylvania, then to Valdosta. It was a fast, violent ride.
And it ended as ferociously as it began. One day, YD found himself looking in the mirror not knowing what he would do or where he would go.
That’s where his journey really begins.
But before we get there, let’s take a little closer look at his football career. YD graduated from Coffee High in 2017. A two-way player as a sophomore and junior, YD rushed for 209 yards on 45 carries. He also caught two passes for 27 yards and a touchdown as a junior.
Defense, however, is where he really made a name for himself. In three years of varsity action in the secondary, he played in 29 games, totaled 93 tackles (52 solo, 41 assisted), and six tackles for loss. He also had three sacks, one hurry, two interceptions, two passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
It was good enough to earn him a spot at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pennsylvania. But Scranton is a long way from home and things didn’t go well. YD came back to Georgia and enrolled at Valdosta State University, where he planned to continue his playing career.
But that fizzled out, too. Just a few short years after graduating from Coffee High, he had been to the mid-Atlantic and back and had very little to show for it. “I thought I was going to be able to play at Valdosta State. It just didn’t work out and I was out of football,” he says.
YD thought law enforcement might be a good next step so got a job at the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office. He began in the jail, which is where just about everyone starts out. That didn’t work out, either.
His next stop was at a car lot selling cars. It wasn’t what he really wanted to do but the car business was good to him. YD sold cars for five years and made good money. He was smart with his finances and was putting money away. He had a plan. And selling cars wasn’t it. “I was saving money, trying to do the right thing. I wanted something more. I always had something else in mind,” he says.
YD wanted to own his own business. He was tired of working for someone else. He wanted to be in charge of his success or his failure. It was risky but YD was driven, determined, and focused.
He decided to try his hand in the restaurant business. Of all places, YD ended up in Sylvania, just about the last stop on Highway 301 before you get to South Carolina. He opened a Stoner’s Pizza franchise and poured everything he had into it. The Sylvania community responded and the restaurant did well.
Sylvania is nice. And they’ve been good to YD and his family. But Sylvania isn’t home and he wanted to get closer to Douglas. He applied for and landed another Stoner’s franchise, this one in Waycross at 2505 Plant Avenue. Tuesday morning, he celebrated the grand opening of his second restaurant. The youngest owner in his franchise group, YD would like to establish Stoner’s throughout South Georgia. “This has been a good run so far. I’m excited about what the future holds,” he says.
YD is married to the former Kaci Adams of Douglas. Together, they have two children, a five-year-old son named Jayceon and a one-year-old little girl named Kai. Coffee County is never far away from the Baker family; when YD isn’t tending to his restaurants in Sylvania or Waycross, you can find him in Bridgetown riding his buggy or spending time with his family.
