Attended Washington State on an athletic scholarship.
Had an amateur record of 52-5, and a pro record of 15-8 as a boxer.
His fight with Robert Ryan in The Set-Up (1949) is still considered one of the best-choreographed boxing scenes in film history.
His great-great grandfather was the original founder of Baylor University.
In one scene from Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), combat veteran Sgt. Stryker (John Wayne) instructs bumbling recruit Pvt. Choynski (Baylor) on the correct way to march and hold a rifle. In real life Baylor was an ex-Marine who fought in the battles of Saipan and Tinian in WW II; Wayne had never served in the military.