When he died in 1987, the entire estate of William Donnell Baird was placed in trust for Cumberland University, the income to be used for scholarships. It was the largest bequest ever made to Cumberland and it came from a man whose life was dedicated to his home town and the school for whose very survival he had fought on more than one occasion.
He is remembered for two phrases, which old friends often mimicked: "I love Lebanon!" and "I love Cumberland!
He was a native son and attended Lebanon High School, where a lifelong interest in sports was kindled, and Castle Heights Military Academy, where he graduated in 1924. He attended Vanderbilt University with a Cartmell Scholarship and Cumberland, where he played baseball' and football. In 1929, Bill Baird was the catcher in both games of a double-header with Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, Both were no-hit victories for Cumberland. He is listed in the Cumberland Sports Hall of Fame. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1928, and then graduated from the School of Law in 1929.
He began the practice of law and soon attained an enviable reputation as an effective defense counsel. When World War II came, he was city judge of Lebanon. His military career included a narrow escape during the Battle of the Bulge, when a German tank column passed within 20 feet of him as he lay in the snow in a roadside ditch. He received the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre. Afterward he was assigned to restore civil government in towns in France, Belgium, Germany, and Hungary.
Baird returned to his practice and politics and in 1948 was elected mayor of Lebanon, succeeding Frank Buchanan, his mentor. He served twelve years and it is conceded that they were the most progressive years of the twentieth century: modernization of public utilities, expansion of city services, and the establishment of the industrial subdivision which bears his name, second such in the state. Also named for Baird is the city baseball park. He was a member of the county quarterly court for two terms, city treasurer, and city attorney.
He served two consecutive terms as president of the Tennessee Municipal League, and was the first chairman of the Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial Development Commission, serving ten years in that office. He first served as state senator in 1943-44. Although he had a reputation as a conservative, Baird was actually a progressive on many political issues, and he supported Governor Frank Clement throughout his political career but not the more conservative Buford Ellington. He was speaker of the Senate, lieutenant governor, for four years. The total of 18 years that he served in the Senate was unprecedented.
He was a member and Bible school teacher at the College Street Church of Christ. But it was for Cumberland University that perhaps his greatest service was rendered. When in 1951 it seemed that the University was to Be moved to Nashville he took a leading role in defeating the proposal.
Then as a member of the Board of Trustees he advocated continued operation of Cumberland in Lebanon and obtained from his city council agreement to sponsor the School of Law and the suspended College of Ars as a municipal university, backed by funds obtained from the sale of an industrial building. He then was one of a group that interested Edward Potter Jr, president of the Commerce Union Bank, in becoming president of the Cumberland board. For the next four years he worked unceasingly o obtain permanent sponsorship, approaching at various times the State of Tennessee, the Methodist, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic churches, a group of members of the Church of Christ, and at least two independent corporate foundations. It was Baird who brought the board a message from Dr. Athens Clay Pullias, president of David Lipscomb: "Make up your minds that you must do it yourself." A swift campaign for local development funds was successful and Baird led a search for a president who would oversee the reopening of the college on a two-year basis.
He continued to serve on the Cumberland board. In 1980 when there was a serious budget crisis he took the lead in reorganizing the school and served for one year as chairman of the board at this time.
