NATCHITOCHES – Memories, laughs and even nicknames wafted through Magale Recital Hall on Saturday as Northwestern State inducted six former athletes into the N-Club Hall of Fame and honored two more dignitaries.

New inductees included softball's Becca Allen (1995-98), track and field's John Barrier (1974-79), basketball's George Jones (1984-88), football's Patrick Palmer (1994-97) and Keith Thibodeaux (1993-96) and baseball's Jimmy Stewart (1968-71).

Former women's basketball player and coach Mona Martin received the N-Club's Distinguished Service award and NSU athletics director Greg Burke accepted the N-Club's Leadership Award.

Burke, who is celebrating his 20^th year as the lead athletics administrator, said his favorite part of Homecoming is interacting with the former athletes who return to Natchitoches.

"Accepting this honor is overwhelming and humbling, and I feel very blessed," Burke said. "But the best part of today is walking around campus and seeing all the former athletes and the relationships we share."

Burke might not have an official nickname that was mentioned on stage, but he was in the minority Saturday.

George Jones absorbed a physical style of play he learned from his love of football and transferred it to the basketball court as the double-double machine finished his NSU career 10^th in scoring (1,348 points), ninth in rebounding (701) and fifth in blocked shots (107).

Jones earned the nickname "Too Tall Jones" after Cowboys defensive lineman Ed Jones when a third-grade George Jones was signed up to play sixth-grade football.

"I was still the biggest kid out there when I went out to play," Jones said of that sixth-grade football team formed in Shreveport's Cedar Grove neighborhood. "I didn't play basketball until the ninth grade, but once I decided that basketball was my sport, I worked hard to be the best I could be.

"But the real MVP is my mother Shirley Jones. She raised four boys as a single mother in a community with drugs and gangs."

Becca Allen's induction was symbolized by a jug of Sunny Delight, which offered refreshment and revitalization during one particular 5 a.m. softball workout after a festive night.

Allen, one of the toughest Demons in any sport, finished her career in the top five of 19 different NSU records, including starts (first, 20), home runs (second, 16) and slugging percentage (third, .442).

"This is for my teammates and coaches that made this possible," said Allen, who led NSU softball to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 1998. "For all the 5 a.m. workouts, two-a-days and midnight runs with the heaviest things we could find, it formed a bond with my teammates and I."

Former football teammates Keith Thibodeaux and Patrick Palmer sharpened each other in practices under coach Sam Goodwin as a cornerback and receiver, respectively.

Thibodeaux was affectionately called "Thibs" by his group of teammates that helped NSU win a share of the 1997 Southland Conference championship and made the FCS playoffs.

"I'll never forget the first time I met Patrick because I'm in my third year and I earned my stripes, and this young skinny kid comes out there talking the most trash I've ever heard," Thibodeaux said.  "I'm thinking to myself, 'He just doesn't know that this my field, and I'm going to have to teach him a lesson.'

"But from that first day, he never backed down and he stepped up to every challenge. I tried to get physical with them, and he got physical back with me. From that point, I knew he was special. We had a mutual respect for competition."

Thibodeaux, who played in the NFL from 1997-2001 with four different teams, finished his NSU career with 162 tackles and 24 pass breakups.

Palmer, who introduced himself as "Patty" and "P-A-T," eventually earned his stripes, too. The receiver collected a then-program best 2,223 receiving yards before playing briefly in the NFL and three years in the CFL with the Calgary Roughriders.

"I guess they say I have confidence," Palmer said. "The battle with Keith were very different because Keith didn't know me and didn't know what type of player I was.

"To have this little freshman come out and challenge his authority, it was actually funny because we really, really went at it. Keith, Jermaine Jones, Kenny Wright, they were all physical guys that helped me mold my game and made me the player I was. I have a lot of respect for Keith in that area."

Pitcher Jimmy Stewart didn't have an official nickname, but one could call him "Mr. Complete."

Stewart would often pitch a complete game then finish off a doubleheader as a multiple-innings closer with his big-leagues fastball.

"His fastball was 88-91 miles per hour, and he had perfect control," said former NSU baseball coach Herbie Smith. "And the first one was as good as his last one.

"You can't do this anymore, but he'd throw the last two or three innings of a doubleheader after throwing a complete game. He rightfully joins his brothers Bill and Tommy in this hall of fame."

Stewart reached Triple-A with the California Angels before a shoulder injury ended his baseball career after finishing his senior season with a 7-4 mark with a 1.69 ERA.

Decathlete John Barrier had never seen a javelin before setting foot on Northwestern State's campus, but he was a contender for a spot on the U.S. Olympics team before America pulled out of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Russia.

Barrier, considered one of the best athletes of a storied NSU track and field program, said coach Jerry Dyes wanted all of his athletes to try different events to identify potential decathletes.

"The decathlon was a trying event, a two-day event," Barrier said. "We boycotted the 1980 Olympics, and I tried to hang on for the 1984 Olympics, and (Dyes) was willing to train me, but in 1981 I had my second child, and financially it was time for me to 'flange up' as they say in the oilfield.

"I was recruited to NSU on a pole vaulting scholarship … and I didn't even know what a javelin was. I picked one up and it went straight up and straight down. But I did fairly well, and (Dyes) saw the potential and pushed me from there."

Mona Martin was in the first class of women to receive athletics scholarships in Louisiana as an NSU basketball player, and she put together an impressive coaching career that includes three state titles at Natchitoches Central High, helping lead NSU to the 1989 NCAA Tournament as an assistant and being the head coach at ULM for 19 seasons.

"My dad was a pro boxer, and he always told me never to set limits for myself," Martin said. "I didn't know much about basketball when I got here … but I always did things with integrity did them the right way.

"Every player in my program graduated, and they went on to become physical therapists, pharmacists, teachers and coaches among other things."