Wanting to know who his father was, but ashamed to reveal his identity, William introduced himself as 'Flint Marko'. Arrested while making his getaway from a robbery, Flint found himself in the same prison as his father.

When Flint tried to give gifts to his mother she rejected them, having heard rumors of his criminal activities. Flint and Vic then began committing petty crimes and started working their way up. However, in the later account, William had stated that he violently assaulted his coach after he confronted him. Whatever the case, William's coach figured out what happened and had him expelled from school. While a late recounting, William has stated that his friend Vic had racked up heavy gambling debts and threw the next game to get out of trouble. He has stated that he accepted money from the mob to throw one of his games. William has given two accounts of what happened next. In high school, Baker became a football star and began dating a cheerleader named Marcy. To sound tougher, William began calling himself Flint, after his old teacher. Soon William became friends with Vic and his goons and rapidly rose to be the leader of their gang. Soon enough, young William became a bully in his own right, beating up on those smaller than him. For the first time in his miserable life, William felt joy. When he got in trouble with the school principal, William couldn't help but notice that not only were his bullies afraid of him, but girls noticed him fighting back as well. The next time Vic and his friends tried to bully William, he fought back and easily trounced them. William ran home to his mother without telling any of the school administrators what happened, and was determined to look after himself. On the day he learned that Miss Flint was going to be married, Vic and his friends trashed William's work and beat him up. Baker was tormented by an older student named Vic. This made William believe that the only way to attract a beautiful woman was with money.

He had developed a crush on his teacher Miss Flint, but was heart broken when he learned that she was engaged to a stockbroker.

William took his love of making things out of sand and used it for school art projects. The young Baker boy became determined that he was going to make something that would last. One day, William built a large and detailed sand castle only to watch it wash away when it started to rain. Young William loved going to the beach and building sand castles, but trips to the beach were far and few between because his mother was an alcoholic. As a child, impoverished, he learned how to steal. William's father left while William was an infant. William Baker was the son of Floyd Baker and his wife.

Sandman richard