As the stage got bigger 9-year-old Oakley Baker only got better.

Baker, who is from Geneva, became the Elks Hoop Shoot national champion for the 8-and 9-year-old group at Springfield, Mass. April 25 to join a group of former and current NBA players who have accomplished the same feat. The list includes Chris Mullin, Trajan Langdon and Steve Alford.

Baker was only shooter in the national championship round to make every shot. Baker and Ryan Grice, from Stanley, N.C., tied after the first 25 free throws, each hitting 25. The pair went to a shootoff where Baker continued his perfection, hitting 5-of-5 while Grice made three, to win the competition. Baker also won the Getty Powell award for being the best shooter of the entire competition which includes boys and girls in the 10 and 11 age group and 12 and 13 age group.

The astonishing part may be the fact that Baker hadn’t sank all 25 free throws in any part of the competition.

Baker started the competition in Albert Lea and he made 17-of-25 free throw attempts. It was good enough to move him onto the district stage in Austin where he made 23-of-25. That qualified him for state at Hutchinson. There he made 22-of-25, good enough to advance to the regional tournament in Iowa City, Iowa.

He competed with kids from Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois and punched his ticket to Springfield by hitting 24-of-25 free throws. He also earned the regional award for the best shooter.

At the national championship in Springfield he competed against 12 other shooters.

In front of hundreds of people Oakley sank free throw after free throw.

“My dad helped me,” Oakley said. “He just told me to keep my elbow in and follow through.”

Oakley said he just concentrated on making the shot, he didn’t try to visualize anything or try to block out the crowd — he just shot.

Each shooter was lined up in folding chairs and each took 10 shots in the first go-around. Baker was the sixth shooter and nailed his first 10. The shooters then shot 15 consecutive free throws and Baker made all 15. But Grice also made all his free throws and the two went to a shootoff. Each shooter had five attempts and Baker made each one while Grice managed three out of five.

Baker didn’t spend much time worrying about the competition, he practiced just once a week with his dad at the Ellendale Elementary school.

At the competition Baker even shocked himself with his ability.

“I was surprised that I won,” he said.

The whole experience was one exciting turn after another.

Baker had signed up for the Hoop Shoot the previous year and his father, Darian, believed it to be just a one-day competition. This time it developed into a five-month long adventure.

“When we started last year we had no clue,” Darian Baker said. “We thought it was just go to Owatonna shoot and you’re done. We didn’t realize that there was multiple levels or multiple steps that one could achieve. We didn’t know what we were getting into.”

Baker had plenty of fan support there as a total of 21 friends and family members followed him out east. Each wore a T-shirt with a picture of the state of Minnesota with “Oakley’s Gang” printed on it. If people didn’t know who Baker was before they did shortly after the competition.

Baker was greeted with a hero’s welcome when he returned from the competition.

Back home neighbors decorated the Baker house with words of encouragement on the windows, toilet papered the house.

His experience isn’t quite over yet. In June Oakley will travel to Portland, Ore. to give a speech about his journey to becoming the national champion.

As another bonus for winning the national championship Oakley will have his name go on a plaque in the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the same year as Michael Jordan.