TWU Home > Student Life > Athletics > 4/6/06
BAKER TO BE RECOGNIZED AS TWU DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI
 DENTON, Texas – Former Pioneer softball coach and student-athlete Dianne Baker is one of four distinguished alumni that Texas Woman’s University and the TWU Former Students Association is recognizing during Honors Convocation ceremonies on April 20 and at an awards luncheon on April 22.
The ceremonies are part of TWU’s 2006 Homecoming celebration from April 18-23. Convocation is at 10:00 a.m. on April 20 in the Margo Jones Performance Hall on campus. The luncheon starts at 11:00 a.m. on April 22 in the Southeast Ballroom of Hubbard Hall. Luncheon tickets are $25 and available by calling the TWU Office of Alumni Relations at (940) 898-2586 or visiting www.twu.edu/alum.
Baker is currently the National Promotions Director for softball at Schutt Sports and also continues to promote TWU Athletics. She has spent more than 27 years in women’s sports, impacting hundreds of student-athletes and coaches with her untiring work ethic and passion for sports.
Baker is one of the winningest coaches in NCAA softball history and compiled a record of 285-165-2 (.633) during her nine years at TWU. She started her coaching career in the Lewisville Independent School District in 1975, followed by a remarkable 15-year coaching run at Stephen F. Austin State University, which included an NCAA Division II national championship in 1986. She also led the Pioneers to two NCAA tournament appearances in the South Central Regionals and one Lone Star Conference South Division championship.
As a student-athlete, she lettered in five sports and played shortstop on the softball squad as a Pioneer before receiving her bachelor of science in physical education and health in 1975. She returned to TWU in 1995 and the softball program was reinstated during the 1996-97 academic year. She was inducted into the TWU Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame shortly thereafter.
Baker was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1988. Her coaching honors also include being named the 1999, 2002 and 2004 LSC South Division Coach of the Year, 1986 NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year, 1985 and 1986 Regional Coach of the Year, and the 1984 Gulf Coast Conference (GCC) Coach of the Year. She was inducted into the SFA Ladyjacks Hall of Honor in 1987. She has coached 26 All-Americans and one Olympian: Sandy Green, a left fielder on the 1996 Canadian Olympic Team.
TWU graduates Dr. Elizabeth Hall Burns of Lubbock, Marie Chapman Martch of Belton and Barbara Dianne Nunneley of Hurst are also being acknowledged.
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