Kitty Baird

Kitty Baird was associate director of athletics and professor of physical education at Centre College. Baird joined the college in 1959 and was instrumental in establishing varsity sports for women. She organized and/or coached teams in women's basketball, field hockey, tennis, softball, and volleyball. Along with her teaching and coaching duties, Baird has served the college as intramural director, fitness consultant, and wellness instructor. Baird retired from Centre at the end of 1999, and was voted a member of Centre’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.

Baird was a strong advocate of women's sports throughout Kentucky. She was president of the Kentucky Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and has received that organization's Distinguished Service Award, as well as the W. Walter H. Mustaine Award, which is KAHPERD's highest honor. Baird was a founder of the Kentucky Women's Intercollegiate Conference (KWIC) and the second president of that organization. She has worked with the NCAA as a member of the Basketball Rules Committee and the Division III Membership Committee. In 1993, her service to women's sports was honored with the Kentucky Pathfinder Award. From the National Association for Women Athletic Administrators, she received the Outstanding Administrator of the Year Award for the southern district.

Baird received her bachelor's degree from Radford College, her master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her degree as an education specialist from Eastern Kentucky University. She has also studied as a postgraduate at the University of Kentucky. She is the author of Women Athletes Blazing a Trail: A History of Women's Participation in Sport at a Small Liberal Arts College.