As previously announced by the athletic department, Diane Harms will be inducted into the UNI Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, August 29.
Harms (Roberts) played for Northern Iowa from 1984 to 1988 and made an immediate impact as a freshman forward for a Panther team that faced stiff competition in only its second season as a Division I program under head coach Kim Mayden. She says some of her prep coaches and family helped set the tone for her college basketball career.
“Coach Ken Walker at Eldora-New Providence was my coach, my sophomore, junior and senior years,” Harms says. “And then I started playing at just Parkersburg back when I was there. I played junior high there and coach John Allen was my junior high coach. And then my freshman year, Al Kerns was the assistant and Kathy Walker were my main coaches that I had throughout. But honestly, we played so much as a family. My sister, my brother, my dad and I. A lot of two-on-two games in the driveway and everything. So a lot of it goes to my family also.”
Harms says one of her best games happened in March of 1985, setting single-game team records for points (40), made field goals (17) and field goal attempts (31) against Illinois State. She also remembers a key victory over Drake as a major team highlight during her career.
“That game, the basket looked so huge. I just felt like anything I was throwing up there was going in that night. It was just one of those games that everyone kind of hopes and dreams that you have. Whatever I was doing seemed to be right. That night I put the ball up and it somehow found its way to go into the basket. From our team perspective, Drake University is very solid program. We were able to upset Drake, I don’t remember exactly which year when I was at UNI, but we were able to upset them one time when we were playing them. So that was a really big win for our team and our women’s basketball program at that time.”
Since taking over as the head volleyball coach at Dike-New Hartford, Harms has mentored numerous volleyball players who have taken their talents to college programs. She says she’s able to offer many words of advice based on her experiences in college athletics.
“Time management is a big one. The amount of time that you travel, that you’re away, and you still have to maintain your studies and everything, just work on that. That’s something that we talk about even in high school, if our bus leaves at 6:00, if you’re at six, you’re late, you need to be there ahead of time, just little things like that. But I think time management is a really big one and just the dedication. It’s like starting over. When you go into college, maybe you were a tremendous high school player, but you’re going into college and everybody there was a tremendous high school player. So you have to start over and learn, just stay competitive and compete and take advantage of the opportunities that you are given.”
Known for her record breaking performances on the floor, Harms finished her career as UNI’s all-time leading scorer with 1,701 career points, currently ranking sixth today. She was also the first player in team history to average over 16 points per game, finishing with 16.8 points per contest, a record that still stands to this day.
The induction will take place Friday, August 29 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cedar Falls, and the inductees will be recognized the next day inside the UNI-Dome during the football season opener.
