Former NL Basketball player recalls sport’s evolution

The popularity of women’s basketball has come a long way since the days that former New London prep Diane Wilson was on the court. The fanfare that surrounds the University of Iowa women’s basketball has changed tremendously since Wilson played there in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In 2024, Iowa women’s games are televised nationally and draw ratings that would make most sports venues (men or women) envious. Millions tune in to see Caitlin Clark launch step-back jump shots from the beak. Or perhaps it’s from the feathers of the logo that wasn’t even created when Diane Wilson played there.

Despite playing nearly 50 years ago for the Hawkeyes, her ties to the program remain tethered. She played ball with Angie Lee, who eventually became the school’s head basketball coach. And current head coach Lisa Bluder, according to Wilson, has used her career and struggles in life as a teaching resource for her players.

“Lisa Bluder is a class act — I can’t say enough good things about her,” Wilson said. “She truly cares about her players as people, not just athletes. She is a great steward of the Iowa women’s basketball program. In 2018, I was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. My brother Mike reached out to Coach Bluder and asked if she would send me a note of encouragement. I received a handwritten note from her along with an Iowa basketball mug. Later that season when Iowa was playing Nebraska, my first coach, Lark Birdsong, and I got to attend the Iowa shoot-around before the game. Lisa invited us to join the team in their midcourt circle at the end of practice and to say a few words to the team. I told them that in basketball as well as in life and in fighting cancer, it was important to be resilient and relentless.”

Wilson’s path from the hardwoods of New London High School to the seemingly empty arenas in the Big Ten, to the prosperity of the financial world has been packed with tremendous experiences and a few health setbacks. She’ll always be a Tiger. She’ll always be a Hawk. Even though she now lives in Lincoln, Nebraska … of all places.

The Wilson family is synonymous with sports and academic excellence in New London. Her father, Jack, was a staple in New London sports and the head of the mathematics department during his nearly forty-year tenure at the school. The street that bisects the campus at New London High School has been renamed Jack Wilson Drive.

Wilson’s story is a prime example of how sports has changed entirely, but more notably for women, since 1976. She was not rated under a star system and wasn’t discussed by Barstool fans who are immersed in the internet. In fact, she played at the University of Iowa … because she felt like it. Having to face the likes of perennial women’s basketball powers Winfield-Mount Union, Mediapolis and West Burlington, Wilson’s high school career was notable, but she wasn’t projected for superstardom. Wilson didn’t get really serious about her craft until her senior year. The spring before, she watched the state tournament on television. She realized that time was waning.

And one has to remember, these were the days of 6-on-6. Two dribbles. Three forwards. Three guards.

Despite a victory over Winfield-Mount Union, Wilson never realized the dream of playing before a state tournament crowd. However, she did attend. And it was this road trip that changed her life forever.

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“Each year, our NLHS team went to Des Moines to watch a day of state tournament action,” Wilson recalled. “My senior year, there was a room at Vet’s Auditorium where colleges had tables set up to recruit students at their schools. The first University of Iowa basketball coach, Lark Birdsong, had a table and I talked with her. She encouraged me to apply for a basketball scholarship. Until that time, I was considering going to either Iowa or the University of Northern Iowa for college, but I didn’t know that there was an opportunity to play basketball. I had to fill out a written application for a scholarship and get a letter of recommendation from Coach (Dave) Gibson. In April, I got a call from Coach Birdsong offering me a scholarship.”

And Wilson had the five hats from myriad schools on a table with television cameras ready to show the nation which school she planned to attend, right?

Uh, no.

“I signed a letter of intent, but without any of the drama as it often happens today. They simply mailed the letter of intent to me and I signed and mailed it back.

“At that time, athletic scholarships for women at Iowa were only for tuition,” Wilson explained. “No full-ride scholarships existed. That was the first year that Iowa women’s basketball offered scholarships to incoming freshmen, and I was one of two to receive a scholarship.”

When Wilson played, games were played at the university’s “Field House,” but women’s games didn’t achieve the distinction of playing on the main floor at all times. Sometimes her games were relegated to the adjoining “North Gym.” Most of the fans were family members or dorm acquaintances who were encouraged to come see them play. She remembered an incident when fans for a 1 p.m. game were booted by security, who felt they were simply trying to watch the men’s game at 7 p.m. for free.

Social change has been a part of her life during her playing days and beyond. She was an eyewitness to the disparity between men’s and women’s sports during the late ‘70s.

“There was one time where we had a 1 p.m. game on the Fieldhouse main court and the men had a 7 p.m. game,” she said. “At halftime of our game, security kicked out any of our couple of hundred or so fans who didn’t have a ticket to the men’s game that night. We were furious! It was such a travesty that there was an editorial in the Daily Iowa about the unfairness of it. Despite Title IX, our facilities were nowhere near as nice as the men’s or even as what all sports have today. The men’s basketball team locker room was right off the training room just steps from the field house court. Ours was downstairs, and we shared it with the gymnastics and swimming teams. We had to buy our own basketball shoes, while (Iowa men’s coach) Lute Olson was one of the first coaches to have a shoe contact. So we’d be in the training room and see the male players walk out with a couple of boxes of new Nikes. Uniforms were also a challenge.

“My first year, my dad helped arrange for us to have our preseason intrasquad scrimmage in Burlington before the Southeastern Community College men had their scrimmage. It was intended to get us some publicity beyond Iowa City. But the field hockey team had made the playoffs, so the warm-ups that we shared with them weren’t available. We showed up in Burlington wearing our personal sweats or warm-ups and we were very mismatched,” she recalled.

Dr. Shelley Lucas, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Kinesiology at Boise State University says that Wilson’s story is not uncommon.

“As a sports historian whose focus has been on U.S. women’s sports history, I can tell you that ample evidence exists to show the inequitable spending on women’s collegiate sports for this time period,” Lucas, also a graduate of New London High School, said.

Lucas cites the book Shattering the Glass by Pamela Gundy and Susan Shackelford. The chapter, “The Fight for Title IX” has an interesting story about the Stanford University women’s basketball team asking for better treatment from their Athletic Director and even had to camp outside the offices seeking results. The book also details University of Maryland coach Chris Weller who asked her AD to provide basic things like good shoes, good equipment, a place to call home and our own locker room. They didn’t even have warm-ups.

Wilson described her playing career for the Hawkeyes as “undistinguished,” but the foundation for a life after play was cemented. She cited the skills she learned from the experience that were practical for life after sports, such as time management, self-confidence, teamwork.

“All of this helped me grow as a person,” Wilson said.

In May of 2023, Iowa celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX, hosting a weekend of events for former student-athletes and coaches. About 300 former athletes attended and four of the five University of Iowa women’s basketball coaches in the school’s history attended.

“Only Vivian Stringer could not make it,” Wilson said. “I saw some friends I hadn’t seen in years. There was a lot of pride evident. Iowa really has been a leader in women’s intercollegiate sports. Much of that was due to our first athletic director, Dr. Christine Grant, who passed away in 2021. She would have been so proud of this gathering.”

Wilson graduated from Iowa with a degree in physical education and a minor in business. She worked for a couple of years in Denver, Colorado and eventually earned her MBA from UCLA, where she was an accountant for large firms in Los Angeles and eventually in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ultimately, she became the chief financial officer of a community foundation that worked with communities across the state. She retired in 2022.

When the Olympics were held in Los Angeles, Wilson was called upon and played two practice games against the Australian Olympic Team.

“That was an amazing experience,” she said.

In 1990, Wilson was asked to play again in the Gay Games, an international sports competition for the LGBTQ community that was held in Vancouver, Canada.

Because Wilson is associated with winning, whether it be on the court or off, you can probably guess the final outcome of that experience.

Her team won gold.