Hall of Fame Spotlight: Diane Pohl

By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — There was no way Diane Pohl was going to attend the University of Iowa. That was her original thought, anyway.

The Cypress, California, native was sought after by softball powers on the West Coast, but a first-year Hawkeye head coach, Gayle Blevins, convinced Pohl to use one of her official visits to the Hawkeye State.

The week after Pohl visited the University of Hawaii, she was on a plane to the Midwest.

“I only agreed to take the trip because Gayle was persistent in recruiting me,” said Pohl. “I was on her radar as soon as I was eligible; she recruited me from the day she got to Iowa. I would get a birthday card or a letter saying I had a great game last week.  I felt like I at least owed her a trip to Iowa.”

Pohl fell in love with Iowa City and the small-town feel of a Big Ten Conference campus.  She loved the energy and fans.  She likened the atmosphere of the men’s basketball game she attended in Carver-Hawkeye Arena to that of a Los Angeles Lakers game.

“When I got home and got off the plane, my dad said, ‘So?'” said Pohl. “I said I actually might go to Iowa. Gayle was the driving reason I became a Hawkeye. She asked if I wanted to be a big fish in a small pond. I wanted to make a difference in the program.”

Pohl competed for the Hawkeyes from 1989-92.  She was a two-time All-American, a three-time all-region, and a three-time first-team All-Big Ten selection.  She is one of seven inductees into the 31st National Iowa Varsity Club Hall of Fame class Aug. 30 at the Coralville Marriott Hotel and Convention Center.  Tickets to the event, which is open to the public, can be purchased HERE (use promo code VCHOF).

“I am so grateful they would consider me for this honor,” said Pohl. “It wasn’t until they told me how many individuals were (in the Hall of Fame) that it hits you. Of all the people and athletes that have gone through Iowa in administration and coaching, there are only 197 inducted.  You realize the magnitude of how special it is.”

Pohl wasn’t your prototypical catcher.  When she arrived on campus, Blevins slotted her in the No. 3 hole in the lineup, but that was short-lived.

“Midway through the first season, (Blevins) went, ‘OK, this isn’t working,'” said Pohl. “She moved me to the leadoff spot and that’s where I was the rest of my career.”

Pohl was a right-handed hitter with exceptional speed.  She hit .354 during her first season as a Hawkeye, setting program records for hits (83), runs (41), and stolen bases (26).

“I was fast,” said Pohl. “I did a lot of sneaky bunts and was a base-hit hitter. I never jacked one over the fence, which makes me sad. I didn’t have that kind of power. My on-base percentage was great and I always wanted to be the one at the plate if there were runners in scoring position at clutch times, because that’s where I thrived.”

Pohl became Iowa’s first National Softball Coaches Association All-America selection during a season where she was voted the team’s co-Most Valuable Player.  She followed it up with a second All-America nod in 1991 after hitting .346 with 38 steals and led the Big Ten in seven categories.

The Hawkeyes won 170 games, two Big Ten championships, and made two NCAA Regionals during Pohl’s career and she left the program holding eight school records and the Big Ten Conference stolen base record.

“The stolen base and hitting records are gone, but you can’t take away the fact that I was the first-ever NFCA first-team All-American,” said Pohl. “That’s cool, and to watch the program grow in the years following us was amazing, it made it all worth it. “

Pohl played through a shoulder injury during her senior season.  The injury didn’t affect Pohl at the plate, as she hit .331 and became the program’s all-time leader in runs (110) and steals (98).  She still ranks third in steals, 11th in hits, and 12th in runs in school history.

During her career, Pohl was twice tabbed as Iowa’s Athlete of the Year and she was a member of the 1990 Big Ten All-Decade team.  Reminiscing on her Hawkeye career, Pohl fondly remembers the bus rides and team camaraderie, but one of her lasting memories came when her career came to a close.

“We were sitting in the dugout during the last game (at Pearl Field) and the girl crossed the plate and we knew it was over,” said Pohl. “It was me, Gayle in the middle, and Terry McFarland on the other side.  We weren’t talking, but just staring at the field, because there was nothing else for us to do.

“Jenny Stotmeister, a girl from Iowa, comes up to us and she had two Dixie cups.  One was filled with dirt she had gathered from the pitcher’s mound and one was filled with dirt from home plate.  She came up and said you California girls have made a difference and we want you to take some dirt from Iowa back home.  To this day, I still have that dirt.”

Pohl was a trailblazer for Iowa softball.  She was the first of a California-to-Iowa pipeline that produced five All-Americans and eight All-America honors.

“I am proud that I made the decision to go to Iowa and am proud to be a Hawkeye,” said Pohl. “I am honored they chose me to be inducted to represent Iowa softball.”

Following her Iowa career, Pohl coached three seasons at her alma mater, Cypress High School.  She also coached her son, Aiden, in PeeWee baseball for six seasons in West Linn, Oregon, where she has been a fleet manager at a Ford dealership for the past 15 years.

Diane Pohl inducted in the Hawkeye Sports Hall of Fame

Former Cypress softball standout honored in Iowa City

Standing before 70,000 fans in Iowa City this past week, memories of Diane Pohl’s long softball career came flooding in as she became one of the most celebrated athletes to ever enjoy such reverence from fans at the University of Iowa.

Three decades after she was a Cypress High School softball standout, Pohl was back in Iowa to be inducted into the Hawkeye Sports Hall of Fame.

“It was amazing,” she said. “There is no other way to describe it.” Pohl said the university “rolled out the red carpet and it was a humbling experience.”

Pohl with her 10-year-old son Aiden at the induction ceremony.

Pohl, along with a handful of other Hall of Fame selected athletes, were honored at halftime during the Hawkeyes’ win over Miami last Saturday as fans remembered Pohl’s greatness on the Hawkeye softball diamond.

Her feelings toward the fans were mutual, she said, even though the whole Iowa thing was never intended to happen.

Pohl was very highly recruited after graduating from Cypress High School, where she led the team to great success. The former Centurion said she remembers having no real intention to attend the University of Iowa.

Pohl’s softball legend had already begun to grow. From Westminster to Gordon’s Panthers, then, after moving to Cypress High School, holiday travel ball, OC Knighthawks, national titles, CIF appearances, etc., Pohl became one of the most recognized catchers in California.

Back then, many of the most powerful softball programs west of the Mississippi wanted Pohl to play softball for them. Iowa was not high on her list (to say the least).

Nevertheless, Gayle Blevins, then the Hawkeye softball coach, had other ideas. Blevins “relentlessly” recruited Pohl. She called her. Encouraged her; sent birthday cards. It never stopped, Pohl remembers.

Pohl’s now famous jersey.

So much so that, “as a courtesy” to Blevins, Pohl decided to use one of her official visits to travel to Iowa and speak to coach Blevins.

“I only agreed to take the trip because Gayle was persistent,” said Pohl. “She recruited me from the day she got to Iowa,” said Pohl, so “I felt like I at least owed her a trip to Iowa.”

Pohl said the trip changed her life.

Unlike huge universities like USC and UCLA, Pohl said the University of Iowa campus was not restricted to the educational campus. The university, she said, “was the whole town. There are no professional sports in town, so the college is it. And they love it.”

Almost immediately upon arrival, said Pohl, she fell in love with the university and Iowa City. “It’s a Big Ten college town” where the campus and the city are synonymous, said Pohl.

Then, she said, in her meeting with Coach Blevins, the wise coach changed her perspective about the future, making her understand that in Iowa, “you can make more of a difference.”

In fact, the visit was so successful, that when her dad (Tom) picked her up at the airport, Pohl remembers his sort of stunned reaction as she told him, “I might go to the University of Iowa.”

Pohl is now “the only female coach” in West Lin, Oregon where she coaches her son Aiden.

In the end, Pohl obviously decided to attend the University of Iowa where she became a “superstar,” including being named the first-ever All-American girls softball player in the university’s history. In fact, she amassed an amazing assortment of softball records (see chart above).

It had been a long road down the softball base paths for Pohl, beginning her career at 9-years-old when she saw a sign for “Little Miss Softball” signups in Westminster.

While her dad immediately found someone to begin teaching her how to pitch, she remembers Ron LeFebvre showing her the new method of “windmill” pitching.

As time went on, however, she clearly remembers the day LeFebvre told her she seemed more comfortable “catching” the pitcher rather than pitching “and he was right.” So not long after, she switched to catching.

Says Pohl, sitting behind the plate gave her a sense of control of the game which felt incredibly comfortable for her. “I took command of the field and ever since then, I absolutely loved sitting behind the plate and controlling the field.”

According to the Hawkeyes’ website, Pohl became Iowa’s first National Softball Coaches Association All-America selection during a season where she was voted the team’s co-Most Valuable Player.

In her second season, she received a second All-American selection, hitting near .350 with 38 stolen bases and leading the Big Ten in seven categories.

Throughout most of her career, she led the batting order. She was fast on her feet and always ready to play, injured or not. While at the University of Iowa, the Hawkeyes won 170 games, two Big Ten championships, and made two NCAA Regionals.

Although her stolen base record is now gone, she still ranks third and is happy the program has grown to the point of breaking old records.

Following her record shattering collegiate career, Pohl returned to Cypress to coach for several years before landing a corporate job in Oregon, where she now coaches Aiden, her 10-year-old son.  She said Aiden, who accompanied her to the ceremonies, said “Mom, I guess you were pretty good.”

Pohl told a university reporter that, during her last game as a Hawkeye, she remembers sitting in the dugout next to Coach Blevins and simply staring at the field. “That was all there was left to do.”

After that last game, a young Iowa girl brought her a Dixie cup full of the infield dirt, telling her she should have it “because you have made such a difference.”

Diane Pohl’s softball legend began in the dirt behind home plate and, as far as that cup of Iowa infield dirt given to her, she still treasures it today.

“I am deeply honored and gratified by the university’s decision” to be inducted into the University of Iowa Hall of Fame. Pohl said her entire collegiate softball career was an amazing experience that began with that unlikely trip to Iowa City as a courtesy to Coach Blevins.

“It was well worth it,” she said.

Coach Blevins was correct. Diane Pohl did indeed make a difference.