By PATRICK KINMARTIN Special to the Daily Press
Four-year-old Quintin Baker is too small to ride a rollercoaster, swim in the deep end of a pool or even see over the dinner table without sitting on phone books.
Yet the Santa Monica resident often seems bigger than most anything else on evenings he skates around Montana Avenue.
Every time Baker darts up and down the shopping strip on his rollerblades, locals stop and watch in awe as he gracefully performs difficult tricks and tirelessly chases around a rolling ball.
“He’s very popular around here,” said Oscar Morel, a manager at Spumoni’s, an Italian restaurant on Montana. “I don’t know what it is, there’s just something about his energy — it’s magnetic.”
“I don’t know what it is, there’s just something about his energy — it’s magnetic.” — — OSCAR MOREL Manager, Spumoni’s restaurant
It is energy Quintin has used to achieve many things in his short life so far. As a roller and ice hockey player, he has won several trophies and certificates, including individual excellence awards for his play against kids two and three years older.
Quintin also has been offered small parts in movies by producers and talent agents impressed with his showmanship when being watched by large groups of people.
“I like when people watch me,” Baker said. “It’s fun. People look at me whenever I skate around with my dad.”
Quintin’s father, Matt, has been there from the very first day Quintin’s talent began to develop. After suffering severe head injuries from a car accident in May of 1999, Matt was kept away from his job as an optician specialist for months, forcing him to stay home to watch Quintin while his wife, Annette, worked full time.
Because of the injuries, Matt’s movement was limited and the only way he could interact with Quintin, then six months old, was to throw him a small ball. Not only could Quintin catch the ball, Matt noticed, but he could throw it back with surprising strength.
“He would fire it at me with amazing force,” Matt Baker said. “It was then I began to wonder if he had some special abilities for someone so young.”
Matt wouldn’t have to wonder much longer. After bringing out his old hockey sticks to play around with Quintin on the carpet inside the family's home, he observed that Quintin quickly picked up the game.
By the time his first birthday rolled around, he was walking through the house in small skates Matt had custom-made. He removed the wheels from the skates so Quintin could get comfortable wearing them.
Quintin soon not only became comfortable, he became antsy. He raced around the house with the wheel-less skates on his feet and a hockey stick in hand, endlessly fetching rolling pucks.
“Once he would get going, we couldn’t stop him,” Annette Baker said. “Matt and I kinda looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s get him skating so he can go outside the house.’”
Although he was just eight months old and could barely talk, Quintin quickly picked up the basics and soon began skating on his own power.
Just before his first birthday, he began taking ice-skating lessons at the Healthsouth Center in El Segundo. By the time he turned two, Matt said he was ready to start playing hockey competitively.
“It was tough at first because there was no league for kids that young,” Matt said. “There was a division for kids who were four, but coaches were apprehensive to let him in. Eventually, they let him play and he proved quickly his age wouldn’t be a factor.”
Quintin became one of the top players in Healthsouth’s “termite” division — a league for four-year olds. Since then, he has progressed to higher levels where he now plays on teams with six-and seven-year olds.
Ralph Barahona, a former NHL player who coaches at the Healthsouth Center, said he’s impressed with Quintin’s feel for the game at a young age.
“He is obviously naturally gifted,” Barahona said. “At this point, it is too early to tell exactly how far he can actually go as a hockey player. But for four years old, he is talented beyond his years as a skater.”
Quintin’s skating ability has become his claim to fame around Santa Monica. When Matt takes him to skate up Montana Avenue on evenings, shop owners often call Quintin over and ask him to perform.
Others who are shopping, eating or just visiting the area have also taken notice. Matt said Quintin has already received offers to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The New Tom Green Show.”
The Bakers, however, are reluctant to expose Quintin to the rigors of working in the entertainment business at such a young age. Quintin said he would like to be on television, but his fantasy is to play for the Los Angeles Kings.
But when asked what he would do if he had the chance to fulfill that fantasy right now, he giggled and said, “No way. I’m too small.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 22, 2003. Read the original PDF.