Al Baxter was an Iowa state champion for Morning Sun High School, going undefeated at 165 pounds in 1965.

He was an All-American in wrestling, placing sixth at 190 pounds in 1968, and also played nose tackle in football for Morningside College.

Baxter was hired as a K-12 education instructor, wrestling coach and football coach in Lisbon, Iowa in 1969. He led Lisbon to five Class A state team titles while coaching 10 state champions and 30 state place-winners. Lisbon won 32 tournaments during his nine years as head coach while compiling a 76-14-1 dual meet record. Baxter was named Iowa Wrestling Coach of the Year in 1974.

He became the wrestling coach at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa, in 1978. After finishing 2-13 in dual meets and last in the Iowa Conference his first season, the Beavers went 15-1 in dual meets and won the Iowa Conference the next season. Since 1980, Buena Vista has won eight conference championships and finished as runners-up three times. Baxter has been named Iowa Conference Coach of the Year five times and was named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in 1990.

Buena Vista finished in the Top 10 at nationals six times with a third-place finish in 1986 and a fourth-place finish in 1990 being their two highest finishes.

Baxter has coached 40 individual conference champions and 69 conference finalists. Thirty-nine of his wrestlers were NCAA Division III All-Americans and nine were named Academic All-America. Buena Vista has won 38 tournaments while finishing runner-up at 22 tournaments. In 14 seasons, Baxter's dual meet record at BV was 169-54-2.

Thirty-four of Baxter's former wrestlers are wrestling coaches and the Al Baxter Wrestling Camp is one of the largest wrestling camps in the nation.

Baxter is a member of the Morningside College Athletic Hall of Fame.