FRISCO, Texas – A relentless, fierce drive for perfection made Rhonda Rube Baird one of the elite college softball players in the country from 1989-92 at Northwestern State.

Tuesday evening, it made her the first softball player or coach ever enshrined in the Southland Conference Hall of Honor. Rube Baird became just the third female student-athlete in the Hall of Honor's membership, which began in 1999 and rose to 50 with the 2018 class.

The Baton Rouge native and resident was one of three inductees honored at the conference's annual awards dinner as the league held its spring business meetings. Former Lamar president Dr. James Simmons and longtime Southland coordinator of volleyball officials Linda Fletcher were also enshrined, Fletcher posthumously.

Her coach at NSU, Rickey McCalister, introduced a player whose No. 27 jersey was retired by NSU in 2001. Two years later, Rube Baird was inducted in NSU's N-Club Hall of Fame.

The Belaire High product made an immediate impact when she hit a career-best .342 en route to Southland Player, Hitter and Newcomer of the Year honors as a freshman.

McCalister wasn't the least bit surprised.

"Her aggressiveness at the plate, with no fear whatsoever, was unique," he told the audience. "She was fully confident in her abilities, had no doubts whatsoever. Everything she did, she did very confidently and aggressively, even back in high school.

"I knew she was going to be good from the drop. In her first game in her freshman year, her competitiveness was already at a junior/senior level. She had a quick release throwing the ball. She was so alert, wired up, on top of everything.  Nobody caught us sleeping on defense, ever. She anticipated and she made things happen."

She fielded .979 in her career, picking off 13 runners and throwing out 32 percent (48-148) who tried to steal against her.

Rube Baird was a three-time Louisiana Athletic Director's Association Player of the Year, and shared All-Louisiana Player of the Year honors from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association as a junior and senior in an era when UL Lafayette was emerging as a perennial Women's College World Series contender.

She was a four-year All-Southland catcher who became the Lady Demons' first, and only, All-American after a sensational junior season that led NSU to a 44-18-1 record and the 1991 Southland championship. That NSU squad beat three nationally-ranked teams as Rube had a .992 fielding percentage and made an impact as a baserunner, with 12 steals in 16 attempts.

The right-handed slugger hit .341 with 44 RBIs and 60 hits that season despite pitchers attempting to work around her (26 walks). She was named the Southland's Player and Hitter of the Year, honors she won twice in her career.

"Her desire and attitude and her approach, it was all off the charts," said McCalister. "Her drive to excel and be perfect in all she did made her the ultimate player. She was full speed all the time, offseason, in practice, and definitely on game day.

"Nobody could match her work ethic and when you combined that with her natural ability, look out, the sky was the limit."

She finished her career with NSU records for hits (215), doubles (45), batting average (.327) and walks (95). Her 45 doubles was a Southland Conference record and placed her 10^th in NCAA history at the end of her playing days.

Rube Baird drove in 117 runs, stole 27 bases in 34 tries, and drew 23 intentional walks.

"She was geared up. She stepped in the box, she owned it," said McCalister. "Rhonda used every at-bat she had in college. There was never, ever a wasted trip to the plate.

"She would just rip the ball and she was a big-time pull hitter. I always stood as far back behind the third base coaching box as I could because she could hurt you, she hit it so hard. She led the NCAA in doubles in her career, and probably led the NCAA in putting scuff marks on balls," he said. "She killed it."

Rube Baird still remains second in the NSU record books in doubles despite softball becoming a more hitter-friendly sport in the last 20 seasons. A quarter century after her career ended, she is still third all-time in walks and sixth in hits.

Rube also became the program's first all-region selection in 1990 when she recorded 43 hits and 22 RBIs with 31 walks in her sophomore season. She repeated as a junior.

"When I introduced her back home for the N-Club Hall of Fame at Northwestern, I remember something somebody asked me when she was playing. 'Why in the world are you letting your catcher run into the backstop catching foul balls in practice?' Well, I couldn't stop her," said McCalister. "That's just how wired up Rhonda was. Every day, every play. You got nothing less than her absolute best.

"That was how she approached softball, that is how she approached her academics, and that is why I'm standing here tonight introducing her for this honor.

"There will be other softball players and coaches brought into the Southland Hall of Honor down the road. But Rhonda will always be the first, and that's a great place to start. It sets the bar real, real high, like it should be. I don't care what the sport, men or women, no coach, no school, could ask for a better player, a more intense competitor, a better teammate, or a better representative," he said.

A member of the Southland's All-Time Softball Team selected in 2013, Rube Baird is a registered nurse in her hometown of Baton Rouge. Academic All-Southland Conference as a senior in 1992, she has two degrees from NSU.

Baird is Northwestern's eighth Southland Hall of Honor selection, joining track and field's Brian Brown, LaMark Carter and coach Leon Johnson, football coach Sam Goodwin, women's basketball coach James Smith, athletics director Tynes Hildebrand and longtime president Dr. Randy Webb.