November 17, 2023 • 25 mins
Our guest on Going Great Across UW Women's Athletics, presented by Great Clips, is Diane Nordstrom, the Assistant Director of UW Women's Athletic Brand Communications. A former UW track and field captain and record holder in the discuss, Diane is about to retire after 33 years. She's worked with 13 of the UW's 23 sports, including volleyball.
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(00:00):
That's the best part of this job, Brian, is knowing the coaches,
the student athletes, the staff,and everybody else that works in the department.
Especially the student athlete. It's justlike they're so appreciative of everything that
you do, and it's so greatto get to know them and to follow
them after they leave Wisconsin and justto be able to keep in touch with
(00:22):
them. Welcome to Going Great AcrossUW Women's Athletics presented by Great Clips,
Great Clips. It's going to begreat. Going Great Across UW Women's Athletics
is a showcase on the great thingstudent athletes are accomplishing on the field,
in the classroom, and beyond.Now here's your host, Brian Poseick.
(00:43):
Hello, and welcome to the iHeartRadiopodcast Going Great Across UW Women's Athletics presented
by Great Clips. I'm Ryan Posik, the father of a former UW women's
hockey player and NCAA pole vault qualifier, the brother of an All American basketball
and soccer player, and the husbandof an iron Man. In this podcast,
we'll talk with a guest or guestswho have made or are making an
(01:04):
impact on UWD women's athletics. Andour guest today is the assistant director of
UW Athletics Brand Communications, Diane Nordstrom, who plans to retire after this semester.
Diane, how you doing good,Brian? How are you? I'm
doing great. I'm doing great.How long have you been doing what you're
doing? Oh? Boy? Currentlyin my current position, I've been here
(01:26):
since nineteen ninety, so thirty threeyears. But I was also a student
athlete at Wisconsin and I also workedas an intern in the former women's sports
information office, So starting in nineteeneighty I have had some sort of affiliation
with Wisconsin. Wow. Yes,as a track and field athlete. We'll
(01:47):
get to that in a bit.But how did you get involved in this
line of work? I was actuallyas the track and field athlete. I
was looking at a journalism major.I was looking for something to do my
final semester of college. So Tamflaarupthen the director of women's sports information,
and asked if I could work inher office, and she said yes because
she was one of those that wasalways willing to help former student athletes and
(02:10):
women proceed. So started there asa student and then that morphed into an
internship and the rest is history.Diane was a four year letter winner with
the UW track and field program backin the early to mid nineteen eighties.
She was a team captain as asenior. You were part of some pretty
(02:30):
good teams, weren't you. Yeah. We actually won six of eight Big
Ten championships, both indoor and outdoortrack, so very impressive. And you
had the cross country you know,it was like the Badgers at that time
were very dominant on the Big tenlevel. Yeah, Big ten indoor titles
in nineteen eighty one, eighty two, and eighty four, outdoor championships in
(02:51):
eighty one, eighty three, andeighty four. And Diane actually set a
couple of school records in the discus, So tell us about that. Yeah,
I actually broke the school record twicein the discus, but I think
I broke it at one forty eightat one point, and the next one
was like one fifty eight. Andthe worst part of it, Brian,
(03:12):
is I'm no longer even on thetop ten list from that long ago because
athletes have improved that much. Ohmy god. Yeah, so one forty
eight your best throw ever was?What one fifty eight? One fifty eight
The school record is now held bytwo time Olympian Kelsey Card two eight five.
That's incredible. That's fifty feet furtherthan you, Diane. But that's
(03:32):
how improved the athletes are, justin their training and their nutrition and everything
else. And you know, whatthey go through now is so different than
what I went through as as astudent athlete. I suppose now, if
you had everything that's in place hereat the university, you could throw two
eight five. I I wish Icould say that, Brian, But I
(03:54):
don't know if I could do that, but I think I would have been
better. Sure did you dab inshotput, weight throw, hammer throw?
I just did shot put in discus, and it was funny because I was
a state champion at high school inthe shotput. So then I walked on
to Wisconsin, and you know,but it wasn't until like my software junior
(04:15):
year that I really picked up thediscus and I actually became better at the
discus than I did at the shotput, but I was still also a big
ten scorer in the shotput. DianeNordstrom's with us from Athletic Brand Communications.
She grew up in Melrose, Wisconsin. So how did you get involved in
sports in Melrow, I don't know. I just kind of followed my older
sisters. They were just at thetime, there wasn't really the organized athletics
(04:42):
in high school because of title lineand everything like that. So when I
got in high school, I hada lot more opportunities to ease than they
did. So I started out inyou know, volleyball, basketball, track
three sport you know in high school, but track was definitely my best sport.
Yeah, and you wanted to goI go to school here and also
run track and field? Were youbeing recruited? All? No, I
(05:04):
wasn't being recruited. Wisconsin is kindof a family tradition. I have an
older brother and two older sisters thatalso attended Wisconsin. So at the time
I was looking at like UW StevensPoint or some of the other state schools,
and then my oldest brother he's like, no, you have to go
to Wisconsin. I'm like, Okay, I'll go to Wisconsin. So how
(05:26):
did you walk on then? Witha track and field just contacted the coaches
at the time, and when Iwas down here for summer orientation, I
met with assistant coach Laurence Seagrave whotalked to me a little bit about the
program and stuff like that, andhe said, yeah, you can walk
onto the program and that was it. Yeah, and that's so much fun.
And the head coach at the timewas Peter taking right. Oh,
(05:48):
Peter was an amazing coach. Andyeah, it was just we just had
two coaches at the time, SoPeter who coached the distance events, and
then Lauren Seagrave, who kind ofcoached everything else. He coached the throws,
he coached the hurdles, he coachedthe other jump So it was a
very busy time for those coaches.Sure, I'm sure again, Diana Nordstrom
(06:09):
is with us, And you mentionedyou got a degree in journalism in nineteen
eighty four. Athletes have mentors androle models. As a journalist or in
the field you're in now, doyou have role models and mentors? Oh,
definitely. I would have to startwith Tam Flair, the former director
of Women's Sports Information, and shegave me my job, she helped me,
(06:30):
gave me all these connections in thefield. So in a lot of
the cases, it's who you know. It's not what you know, it's
who you know. And Tam introducedme to some amazing women in the profession,
and now that I look back atit, I guess I am one
of those amazing women and the profession. You've been around a long time,
(06:51):
but it's not just longevity. Youhave to do things right to be considered
the way you've you're being considered.Yeah, you know, you work how
card, you communicate well with thecoaches. You just you know, you
stay up on the latest trends andthings like that, and that's something that
has changed so much over these thirtyyears. Yeah, I was going to
(07:13):
ask you about that. In thirtythree years, so many things have changed,
not only across athletics with now niland transfer portal and with the way
you see coaches come and go andathletes come and go, but in your
business too, so many things havechanged. Where you used to use a
typewriter, you don't use typewriters anymore, and copy machines where you'd had to
roll out and put the carbon inand all that. Right. Yeah,
(07:34):
I was telling that to John Audiusat our volleyball broadcast that Yeah, you
know, we used to use typewriters. We didn't have any type of word
processing until I think about nineteen ninety, so everything was typewritten. We didn't
have no fax machines, nothing toget the results, so you had to
call like the newspapers or stuff likethat with your results. You know,
(07:58):
we took our stats by hand,so you had to compile everything at the
end of an event and then putit on like an official scoreboard, and
then, like you said, makeMimeo copies if necessary, or if you
had a copyer you were pretty lucky. And no cell phones. So you
know, things have changed so muchto now that everything is computerized. Social
(08:20):
media has changed the feel tremendously,and now, like you said, nil
and all all sorts of other things, and who knows what's going to come
next. We don't know, andthat makes it interesting and a little scary
at the same time. So whenyou're trying to release the information. Early
on with UWED women's athletics, werethe media outlets receptive to information about women's
(08:46):
sports because I know well enough throughmy sister's playing days that you know,
oftentimes media outlets would just kind ofpush it aside, Oh who cares about
those types of things? Unfortunately,Yeah, it honestly, it depended on
the sport and it depended upon likethe reporters there're you know, sports like
women's basketball were fairly well covered.In track, we were very lucky that
(09:09):
we had a reporter and who namedDon Lindstrom at the Wisconsin State Journal,
and he loved track, so hewould give very equal coverage to both the
men's and women's track and field programs, so in cross country, so he
was tremendous in getting the word outon the teams, and we would have
these large articles in the paper andeverything else like that. So they were
(09:31):
very lucky at the time. Italso helps that you had a successful program
with track and field, though too. Success will breed interest, doesn't Yeah,
it really does. And you know, the men's program obviously has been
as good as the women's program backthen. So it was you know,
when you win, people pay attention. And even when the few big ten
(09:52):
championships that we lost, the teamwas so upset. We were just like,
I can't believe we lost. Buteven then there was still the coverage
of the team. I know,when you were a senior, your squad
finished sixth in the NCAA I believein the outdoor and seventh in the indoor,
and he had a national champion inboth in Kathy Branta, who won
(10:15):
the three thousand meters both years.She was maybe the very first distance runner
at Wisconsin to succeed like she didand really kind of spurred what we had
seen throughout the years with fantastics distancerunners at this universe. Yeah, she
was one of the early leaders,but you have to go back, even
like Cindy Bremser, who was verytrue, who was an Olympian, you
(10:37):
know, back in nineteen eighty four. She was an Olympian, But Kathy
kind of set the standard of thosedistance and especially for she was from Slinger,
Wisconsin. So the fact that youknow, this kid from small town
Slinger, Wisconsin goes on to winthese NCAA championships and she competed in World
cross country Championships, so you know, her and Katie ishmil from Madison,
(11:01):
those were kind of the two distanceleaders when I was on the team.
Kind of fun to think back,It is kind of fun. It makes
me think, Okay, who elsewas on the team and who do I
need to mention. Diane Nordstrom wasinducted into the College of Athletic Communicators Hall
of Fame in twenty eighteen. She'sworked with thirteen of Wisconsin's twenty three sports,
including the UW volleyball team, whichhas won eight Big Ten titles.
(11:24):
Played in twenty five NCAA tournaments duringyour time with Athletic Communications. Of course,
the highlight the twenty twenty one nationalchampionship. Could you see it was
a matter of time I think beforeKelly Sheffield squad was going to win a
national title. Did you feel thesame way? Oh, definitely, But
even his the first year that hewas here in twenty thirteen, and the
(11:45):
team starts out, they start startedout the season really well. I think
we were like nine to zero orsomething to start the season and then we
hit Big ten play in the We'relike, okay, we lost a few
matches, but we still you know, we're starting to gain some attention.
But that team saved the best forlast during the NCAA tournament. They just
went crazy and that was the yearthey made it to the championship match.
(12:07):
So you know, you saw thatthings were changing a lot at Wisconsin volleyball.
You had an up close and personalfeeling for it too, because you
were doing radio at the time withJohn Audience. Yeah, as John talks
when he's doing his down goes Texasand that's me screaming in the background.
(12:28):
It's a classic call. But itjust goes to show how excited you were
for the people that you work with, right. Oh. Yeah, that's
the best part of this job,Brian, is knowing the coaches, the
student athletes, the staff, andeverybody else that works in the department.
Especially the student athlete. It's justlike they're so appreciative of everything that you
do, and it's so great toget to know them and to follow them
(12:52):
after they leave Wisconsin and just tobe able to keep in touch with them.
No fans are wondering, can theBadgeries win another national time? Oh?
I hope. So we got bigmatches coming up with you know,
Nebraska, and then hopefully host theNCAA Tournament for the first and second rounds
and then hopefully a trip to Tampa, Florida. It would be okay,
(13:13):
great way to close out your careerexactly. I told that to coach Kelly
Sheffield that I expect to leave mycareer with a national championship. Another national
championship. You put the pressure allon of going great across uw women's Athletics,
presented by Great Clips Diane Nordstrom ofAthletic Communications with his former UW track
and field athlete and one time discusrecord holder. In two thousand and one,
(13:37):
Diane won the Grant Burger Media Awardfor her help in a dancing the
sport of volleyball. It's amazing howvolleyball has grown nationally and internationally for that
man, yeah, very much.So. It's like part of the reason
I won that award is that Iwould track the attendance for volleyball because nobody
kept attendants and we were starting todraw attendance really well, so we were
(13:58):
looking and how do we average,how do we sit? So I would
track the attendance for the national beforethe NCAA took it over or the ABCA,
which is the American Volleyball Coaches Associationdid it. So that was part
of the reason why. But Iwould track all matches over one thousand at
that time. I can't imagine howbig that list would be now, just
(14:22):
with the you know, the attendanceat the Wisconsin gets, the outdoor match
at Nebraska, the TV attendance thatwe've gotten over you know, one point
six million for our match versus Minnesota. It is it is remarkable. You've
always had fans so at the fieldhouse, haven't you? Oh yeah, even
starting back when Steve Lowe was atcoach here, they had over ten thousand
people in the field house for afirst round NCUBA volleyball match versus Illinois.
(14:48):
So you know, things started growing, and unfortunately after Steve passed away,
it dropped down a little. Butthen John Cook came in and started building
the program up again. So yeah, Wisconsin has ranked in the top twenty
in national attendant I believe for likethirty three or thirty four years, so
including these past three years where we'vebeen second. You know, after John
(15:11):
Cook, it was Pete Waite andnow Kelly Sheffield. What's it like working
with Kelly Scheff? Kelly always bringsa smile to my face. I will
say that though he is He's alwaysgot something to say. It's funny because
he loves like eighties music and hecan quote like movie lines. He'll tell
you what movie was that from.I'm like, I don't know. Kelly.
(15:35):
He talks about the old ABA.You can ask him about the Indiana
Pacers and he can reel off oldnineteen seventy four rosters. He's incredible.
Now. Yeah, the stuff heremembers is just phenomenal. And he talks
about even when he started coaching withMunsey at a volleyball club in Munsey,
Indiana, that you know, therewere two teams he liked to follow ball
(15:56):
state because they were in Munsey andWisconsin. So he has been Wisconsin volleyball
fan for many, many years.You know, he didn't have a lot
of experience coaching volleyball, you know, and then he gets here. What
a hire by the University Wisconsin tobring him in and he's taken it to
another level. Yeah, he reallyhas in the fact that he never played
(16:18):
volleyball at any level, but Ithink he has such an analytical mind and
he can see stuff that I don'tthink a normal person can see. And
as well as the fact that theplayers love played for him. You know,
he's built a great staff with GaryBrittany, Anbury, Jess Williams.
You know that he has built agreat staff and he has a great rapport
(16:42):
with his athletes and he has developeda great culture here as well. We
talked about how volleyball has grown inNebraska. Had a match at Memorial Stadium
in Lincoln that drew eighty thousand plus, which is remarkable. Any chance do
you think we'll ever see Wisconsin volleyballat Camp Randall Stadium. I don't know
if that would ever be possible becauseyou know, you would have to do
(17:04):
it in the non conference season.You know, you could do it in
a Big ten one, so Ithink it would be interesting. So I
think Nebraska actually do like ninety twothousand, so Wisconsin couldn't break the record.
Maybe it could if you had chairson the on the turf, So
I think I think if there wasa possibility that Wisconsin could break that record,
(17:27):
you might see a match in CampRetel. Oh, that would be
so much fun. Diane Nordstrom breakingnews. No, no, this is
going great across uw Women's Athletics,presented by Great Clips with Diane Nordstrom.
You know, there have been somany great volleyball and I'm sorry, I'm
just sticking with volleyball now, butthere have been so many great volleyball players
over the years, and you know, most recently, Dana Ratke was the
(17:48):
National Player of the Year. Whattype of impact did she have on this
program and on you? Oh,I think one thing that obviously stands out
with Dana is her height, butas well as her ability to move.
She for somebody who was six seven, she was you know, she is
not awkward at all. Uh.I think she's six eight actually, but
(18:11):
she's you know, she danced asa youngster, so she had that great
ability and just her personality. Shewas so accepting of all the attention,
but it was willing to give allthe credit to her teammates because you know,
volleyball is a very much a teamsport, and you know, she
was a great spokesperson for the program, whether it was with the media or
(18:34):
even the fans that were out there. She always take took time for everyone.
I'm going to put you on thespot here the favorite UW athlete that
you've worked with in your thirty threeyears, and you can you can name
a bunch if you'd like. Butit's tough. It's I'm sure it's tough.
I think I would have to namea bunch. But some of the
volleyball players that stand out obviously areare Lauren CARLINI, Dana Retkey, but
(18:57):
some of the earlier ones like Charisaliving Stinch that she changed the just the
the athleticism of volleyball because she couldhit the ball so hard as a as
a middle But you know, Iworked with Susie Favor as an incredible runner,
but you know, so many othersports that I've worked with as well.
(19:21):
So those are the few that standout, but also the coaches that
I've worked with here have been amazing. How about the best female athlete in
UW history. You've seen your favorite, but the best that you've seen,
and there's so many. Again,you've worked with thirteen of the sports.
Yeah, boy, Susie Favor obviouslystands out, as you know, a
(19:42):
nine time ncuble A champion, andI don't that's not something that too many
many people can do. But DanaReki, a five time first team All
American in volleyball, rose Leavelle,look at the impact that she has made
on women's soccer. There's also youknow, swimmers like currently on the team,
(20:03):
Phoebe Bacon, you know, she'san Olympian, and Kelsey card a
two time Olympian. And so thereare so many women out there that are
great role models for current athletes andfans. That's another thing that's come a
long way in your time here,right, the acceptance of women's sports,
and we can see the athletic abilityof women that now have these opportunities,
(20:27):
and they're getting more and more opportunities. It wasn't that way, as you
mentioned back when you were a kid. Oh, definitely not. You know,
the equal opportunities that they have.I was when I was talking to
John Oddius about this. I said, we would take bands everywhere we drove
for track meets. You know,we didn't have a bus, we didn't
have a plane. We had totake bands. We had like one uniform
(20:48):
for four years or maybe two uniformsfor four years. We didn't get new
uniforms. We didn't have a lockerroom, you know, we had to
share a locker room in the shell. They were only like economic people here
at the time. So you knowthis the impact that women's athletics has made
on Wisconsin and nationally, you cansee it and look at women's volleyball and
(21:14):
women's hockey. You know, thoseare the two top women's sports here at
Wisconsin. And the backing is therenot only from fans but from the administration.
Yeah that you know, they're they'rewilling to put the money in whether
it's you know, a team charteringsomewhere or you know, getting the equipment
that they need. You know,this administration is very supportive of almost all
(21:37):
of their sports. And Diane Nordstromis with us going great across u W
Women's Athletics presented by Great Clips,and she's set to retire here soon in
just a few weeks, not nottoo far away. What are you going
to do with yourself? I keepI keep getting asked that, Brian.
Then I would definitely like to dosome volunteer time, hopefully working working in
(21:59):
maybe in a food or something likethat. I love thrift stores, so
I would love to volunteer in likea thrift store. I think that would
be great. I've actually been approacheda few people like to continue on and
maybe doing some volleyball stats so Ican still go to the matches and help
out where needed, so I'll stillbe a Badger fan, especially a volleyball
(22:21):
fan. Is there anything that youwill not miss it in your current position?
Oh? The hour, the weekendsand the hours at night, because
when you think about it, mostathletic events are held on weekends and on
nights, so you know, there'snot much you can do when if you
want to go to dinner, it'slike, sorry, I have a volleyball
match, or if I have swimmeet, or I have a track meet
(22:42):
or something like that, so Iwill not miss the hours that's required to
actually be at a match. Willbe fun to go to a volleyball match,
arrive like fifteen minutes before, andthen leave right afterwards. That hasn't
happened to me in over thirty years. You're going to get that chance next
season. You're going to get thatchance. I know you're an avid music
fan too, so I suppose you'regoing to be hitting the concert scene along
(23:04):
the line and dancing crazily. Right. Oh, there's so many There's so
many awesome local Wisconsin Madison bands thatyou know. It's like I have to
give a shout out to my favorite, which is Wheelhouse. So and it's
great to listen to local music,even national music. I have some friends
who that they like to travel aroundto concerts, and I'm like, oh,
(23:29):
I could go to like Red Rocksin Colorado or you know, some
of the other places and watch someof my favorite musical artists. Going to
be a world traveler too, Andyou have been right, Yeah. I
mean I think I've hit more thanlike almost like thirty seven thirty eight countries
so far, So I got towork on that list. I have a
few bucket lists that things that Istill want to do. I have like
(23:52):
Scotland, Egypt, African Safari,Galapagos. So my list keeps getting lost
again. Diane Nordstrom's with us.She's set to retire from UW Athletic brand
Communications. Can you put into wordswhat this experience has meant to you?
That is so tough. It's reallybittersweet because of you know, I've all
(24:17):
miss working with all the wonderful studentathletes and coaches and everyone within the brand
communications department and within the athletic department. But I'm so thankful for the experience
that I've had and the incredible successof the programs that I've worked with.
(24:38):
So and I've loved even learning newsports here, whether or not it's something
that I've never worked with before,or you know, something I've worked with
for thirty years, like volleyball.So it's been an amazing experience and I
can't wait to see what's next forWisconsin Athletics. It's been a pleasure knowing
(25:00):
you all these years and working withyou closely, and you've brought a smile
to my face every time I seeit too. Thanks so much for everything
you've done for women's athletics, forthe University of Wisconsin, and for fans
who get to hear and read allabout the young ladies and the teams that
you've been able to cover. Oh, thank you, Brian, It's been
a pleasure. Diane Nordstrom from UWBrand Athletic Communication, set to retire here
(25:25):
after the Wisconsin volleyball team wins itsnext national championship. The pressure is on
Kelly Sheffield. I'm Brian Posik.This is going great across UW Women's Athletics
presented by Great Clips and iHeartRadio.Going great across UW Women's Athletics presented by
Great Clips, Great Clips. It'sgoing to be great.
That's the best part of this job, Brian, is knowing the coaches,
the student athletes, the staff,and everybody else that works in the department.
Especially the student athlete. It's justlike they're so appreciative of everything that
you do, and it's so greatto get to know them and to follow
them after they leave Wisconsin and justto be able to keep in touch with
(00:22):
them. Welcome to Going Great AcrossUW Women's Athletics presented by Great Clips,
Great Clips. It's going to begreat. Going Great Across UW Women's Athletics
is a showcase on the great thingstudent athletes are accomplishing on the field,
in the classroom, and beyond.Now here's your host, Brian Poseick.
(00:43):
Hello, and welcome to the iHeartRadiopodcast Going Great Across UW Women's Athletics presented
by Great Clips. I'm Ryan Posik, the father of a former UW women's
hockey player and NCAA pole vault qualifier, the brother of an All American basketball
and soccer player, and the husbandof an iron Man. In this podcast,
we'll talk with a guest or guestswho have made or are making an
(01:04):
impact on UWD women's athletics. Andour guest today is the assistant director of
UW Athletics Brand Communications, Diane Nordstrom, who plans to retire after this semester.
Diane, how you doing good,Brian? How are you? I'm
doing great. I'm doing great.How long have you been doing what you're
doing? Oh? Boy? Currentlyin my current position, I've been here
(01:26):
since nineteen ninety, so thirty threeyears. But I was also a student
athlete at Wisconsin and I also workedas an intern in the former women's sports
information office, So starting in nineteeneighty I have had some sort of affiliation
with Wisconsin. Wow. Yes,as a track and field athlete. We'll
(01:47):
get to that in a bit.But how did you get involved in this
line of work? I was actuallyas the track and field athlete. I
was looking at a journalism major.I was looking for something to do my
final semester of college. So Tamflaarupthen the director of women's sports information,
and asked if I could work inher office, and she said yes because
she was one of those that wasalways willing to help former student athletes and
(02:10):
women proceed. So started there asa student and then that morphed into an
internship and the rest is history.Diane was a four year letter winner with
the UW track and field program backin the early to mid nineteen eighties.
She was a team captain as asenior. You were part of some pretty
(02:30):
good teams, weren't you. Yeah. We actually won six of eight Big
Ten championships, both indoor and outdoortrack, so very impressive. And you
had the cross country you know,it was like the Badgers at that time
were very dominant on the Big tenlevel. Yeah, Big ten indoor titles
in nineteen eighty one, eighty two, and eighty four, outdoor championships in
(02:51):
eighty one, eighty three, andeighty four. And Diane actually set a
couple of school records in the discus, So tell us about that. Yeah,
I actually broke the school record twicein the discus, but I think
I broke it at one forty eightat one point, and the next one
was like one fifty eight. Andthe worst part of it, Brian,
(03:12):
is I'm no longer even on thetop ten list from that long ago because
athletes have improved that much. Ohmy god. Yeah, so one forty
eight your best throw ever was?What one fifty eight? One fifty eight
The school record is now held bytwo time Olympian Kelsey Card two eight five.
That's incredible. That's fifty feet furtherthan you, Diane. But that's
(03:32):
how improved the athletes are, justin their training and their nutrition and everything
else. And you know, whatthey go through now is so different than
what I went through as as astudent athlete. I suppose now, if
you had everything that's in place hereat the university, you could throw two
eight five. I I wish Icould say that, Brian, But I
(03:54):
don't know if I could do that, but I think I would have been
better. Sure did you dab inshotput, weight throw, hammer throw?
I just did shot put in discus, and it was funny because I was
a state champion at high school inthe shotput. So then I walked on
to Wisconsin, and you know,but it wasn't until like my software junior
(04:15):
year that I really picked up thediscus and I actually became better at the
discus than I did at the shotput, but I was still also a big
ten scorer in the shotput. DianeNordstrom's with us from Athletic Brand Communications.
She grew up in Melrose, Wisconsin. So how did you get involved in
sports in Melrow, I don't know. I just kind of followed my older
sisters. They were just at thetime, there wasn't really the organized athletics
(04:42):
in high school because of title lineand everything like that. So when I
got in high school, I hada lot more opportunities to ease than they
did. So I started out inyou know, volleyball, basketball, track
three sport you know in high school, but track was definitely my best sport.
Yeah, and you wanted to goI go to school here and also
run track and field? Were youbeing recruited? All? No, I
(05:04):
wasn't being recruited. Wisconsin is kindof a family tradition. I have an
older brother and two older sisters thatalso attended Wisconsin. So at the time
I was looking at like UW StevensPoint or some of the other state schools,
and then my oldest brother he's like, no, you have to go
to Wisconsin. I'm like, Okay, I'll go to Wisconsin. So how
(05:26):
did you walk on then? Witha track and field just contacted the coaches
at the time, and when Iwas down here for summer orientation, I
met with assistant coach Laurence Seagrave whotalked to me a little bit about the
program and stuff like that, andhe said, yeah, you can walk
onto the program and that was it. Yeah, and that's so much fun.
And the head coach at the timewas Peter taking right. Oh,
(05:48):
Peter was an amazing coach. Andyeah, it was just we just had
two coaches at the time, SoPeter who coached the distance events, and
then Lauren Seagrave, who kind ofcoached everything else. He coached the throws,
he coached the hurdles, he coachedthe other jump So it was a
very busy time for those coaches.Sure, I'm sure again, Diana Nordstrom
(06:09):
is with us, And you mentionedyou got a degree in journalism in nineteen
eighty four. Athletes have mentors androle models. As a journalist or in
the field you're in now, doyou have role models and mentors? Oh,
definitely. I would have to startwith Tam Flair, the former director
of Women's Sports Information, and shegave me my job, she helped me,
(06:30):
gave me all these connections in thefield. So in a lot of
the cases, it's who you know. It's not what you know, it's
who you know. And Tam introducedme to some amazing women in the profession,
and now that I look back atit, I guess I am one
of those amazing women and the profession. You've been around a long time,
(06:51):
but it's not just longevity. Youhave to do things right to be considered
the way you've you're being considered.Yeah, you know, you work how
card, you communicate well with thecoaches. You just you know, you
stay up on the latest trends andthings like that, and that's something that
has changed so much over these thirtyyears. Yeah, I was going to
(07:13):
ask you about that. In thirtythree years, so many things have changed,
not only across athletics with now niland transfer portal and with the way
you see coaches come and go andathletes come and go, but in your
business too, so many things havechanged. Where you used to use a
typewriter, you don't use typewriters anymore, and copy machines where you'd had to
roll out and put the carbon inand all that. Right. Yeah,
(07:34):
I was telling that to John Audiusat our volleyball broadcast that Yeah, you
know, we used to use typewriters. We didn't have any type of word
processing until I think about nineteen ninety, so everything was typewritten. We didn't
have no fax machines, nothing toget the results, so you had to
call like the newspapers or stuff likethat with your results. You know,
(07:58):
we took our stats by hand,so you had to compile everything at the
end of an event and then putit on like an official scoreboard, and
then, like you said, makeMimeo copies if necessary, or if you
had a copyer you were pretty lucky. And no cell phones. So you
know, things have changed so muchto now that everything is computerized. Social
(08:20):
media has changed the feel tremendously,and now, like you said, nil
and all all sorts of other things, and who knows what's going to come
next. We don't know, andthat makes it interesting and a little scary
at the same time. So whenyou're trying to release the information. Early
on with UWED women's athletics, werethe media outlets receptive to information about women's
(08:46):
sports because I know well enough throughmy sister's playing days that you know,
oftentimes media outlets would just kind ofpush it aside, Oh who cares about
those types of things? Unfortunately,Yeah, it honestly, it depended on
the sport and it depended upon likethe reporters there're you know, sports like
women's basketball were fairly well covered.In track, we were very lucky that
(09:09):
we had a reporter and who namedDon Lindstrom at the Wisconsin State Journal,
and he loved track, so hewould give very equal coverage to both the
men's and women's track and field programs, so in cross country, so he
was tremendous in getting the word outon the teams, and we would have
these large articles in the paper andeverything else like that. So they were
(09:31):
very lucky at the time. Italso helps that you had a successful program
with track and field, though too. Success will breed interest, doesn't Yeah,
it really does. And you know, the men's program obviously has been
as good as the women's program backthen. So it was you know,
when you win, people pay attention. And even when the few big ten
(09:52):
championships that we lost, the teamwas so upset. We were just like,
I can't believe we lost. Buteven then there was still the coverage
of the team. I know,when you were a senior, your squad
finished sixth in the NCAA I believein the outdoor and seventh in the indoor,
and he had a national champion inboth in Kathy Branta, who won
(10:15):
the three thousand meters both years.She was maybe the very first distance runner
at Wisconsin to succeed like she didand really kind of spurred what we had
seen throughout the years with fantastics distancerunners at this universe. Yeah, she
was one of the early leaders,but you have to go back, even
like Cindy Bremser, who was verytrue, who was an Olympian, you
(10:37):
know, back in nineteen eighty four. She was an Olympian, But Kathy
kind of set the standard of thosedistance and especially for she was from Slinger,
Wisconsin. So the fact that youknow, this kid from small town
Slinger, Wisconsin goes on to winthese NCAA championships and she competed in World
cross country Championships, so you know, her and Katie ishmil from Madison,
(11:01):
those were kind of the two distanceleaders when I was on the team.
Kind of fun to think back,It is kind of fun. It makes
me think, Okay, who elsewas on the team and who do I
need to mention. Diane Nordstrom wasinducted into the College of Athletic Communicators Hall
of Fame in twenty eighteen. She'sworked with thirteen of Wisconsin's twenty three sports,
including the UW volleyball team, whichhas won eight Big Ten titles.
(11:24):
Played in twenty five NCAA tournaments duringyour time with Athletic Communications. Of course,
the highlight the twenty twenty one nationalchampionship. Could you see it was
a matter of time I think beforeKelly Sheffield squad was going to win a
national title. Did you feel thesame way? Oh, definitely, But
even his the first year that hewas here in twenty thirteen, and the
(11:45):
team starts out, they start startedout the season really well. I think
we were like nine to zero orsomething to start the season and then we
hit Big ten play in the We'relike, okay, we lost a few
matches, but we still you know, we're starting to gain some attention.
But that team saved the best forlast during the NCAA tournament. They just
went crazy and that was the yearthey made it to the championship match.
(12:07):
So you know, you saw thatthings were changing a lot at Wisconsin volleyball.
You had an up close and personalfeeling for it too, because you
were doing radio at the time withJohn Audience. Yeah, as John talks
when he's doing his down goes Texasand that's me screaming in the background.
(12:28):
It's a classic call. But itjust goes to show how excited you were
for the people that you work with, right. Oh. Yeah, that's
the best part of this job,Brian, is knowing the coaches, the
student athletes, the staff, andeverybody else that works in the department.
Especially the student athlete. It's justlike they're so appreciative of everything that you
do, and it's so great toget to know them and to follow them
(12:52):
after they leave Wisconsin and just tobe able to keep in touch with them.
No fans are wondering, can theBadgeries win another national time? Oh?
I hope. So we got bigmatches coming up with you know,
Nebraska, and then hopefully host theNCAA Tournament for the first and second rounds
and then hopefully a trip to Tampa, Florida. It would be okay,
(13:13):
great way to close out your careerexactly. I told that to coach Kelly
Sheffield that I expect to leave mycareer with a national championship. Another national
championship. You put the pressure allon of going great across uw women's Athletics,
presented by Great Clips Diane Nordstrom ofAthletic Communications with his former UW track
and field athlete and one time discusrecord holder. In two thousand and one,
(13:37):
Diane won the Grant Burger Media Awardfor her help in a dancing the
sport of volleyball. It's amazing howvolleyball has grown nationally and internationally for that
man, yeah, very much.So. It's like part of the reason
I won that award is that Iwould track the attendance for volleyball because nobody
kept attendants and we were starting todraw attendance really well, so we were
(13:58):
looking and how do we average,how do we sit? So I would
track the attendance for the national beforethe NCAA took it over or the ABCA,
which is the American Volleyball Coaches Associationdid it. So that was part
of the reason why. But Iwould track all matches over one thousand at
that time. I can't imagine howbig that list would be now, just
(14:22):
with the you know, the attendanceat the Wisconsin gets, the outdoor match
at Nebraska, the TV attendance thatwe've gotten over you know, one point
six million for our match versus Minnesota. It is it is remarkable. You've
always had fans so at the fieldhouse, haven't you? Oh yeah, even
starting back when Steve Lowe was atcoach here, they had over ten thousand
people in the field house for afirst round NCUBA volleyball match versus Illinois.
(14:48):
So you know, things started growing, and unfortunately after Steve passed away,
it dropped down a little. Butthen John Cook came in and started building
the program up again. So yeah, Wisconsin has ranked in the top twenty
in national attendant I believe for likethirty three or thirty four years, so
including these past three years where we'vebeen second. You know, after John
(15:11):
Cook, it was Pete Waite andnow Kelly Sheffield. What's it like working
with Kelly Scheff? Kelly always bringsa smile to my face. I will
say that though he is He's alwaysgot something to say. It's funny because
he loves like eighties music and hecan quote like movie lines. He'll tell
you what movie was that from.I'm like, I don't know. Kelly.
(15:35):
He talks about the old ABA.You can ask him about the Indiana
Pacers and he can reel off oldnineteen seventy four rosters. He's incredible.
Now. Yeah, the stuff heremembers is just phenomenal. And he talks
about even when he started coaching withMunsey at a volleyball club in Munsey,
Indiana, that you know, therewere two teams he liked to follow ball
(15:56):
state because they were in Munsey andWisconsin. So he has been Wisconsin volleyball
fan for many, many years.You know, he didn't have a lot
of experience coaching volleyball, you know, and then he gets here. What
a hire by the University Wisconsin tobring him in and he's taken it to
another level. Yeah, he reallyhas in the fact that he never played
(16:18):
volleyball at any level, but Ithink he has such an analytical mind and
he can see stuff that I don'tthink a normal person can see. And
as well as the fact that theplayers love played for him. You know,
he's built a great staff with GaryBrittany, Anbury, Jess Williams.
You know that he has built agreat staff and he has a great rapport
(16:42):
with his athletes and he has developeda great culture here as well. We
talked about how volleyball has grown inNebraska. Had a match at Memorial Stadium
in Lincoln that drew eighty thousand plus, which is remarkable. Any chance do
you think we'll ever see Wisconsin volleyballat Camp Randall Stadium. I don't know
if that would ever be possible becauseyou know, you would have to do
(17:04):
it in the non conference season.You know, you could do it in
a Big ten one, so Ithink it would be interesting. So I
think Nebraska actually do like ninety twothousand, so Wisconsin couldn't break the record.
Maybe it could if you had chairson the on the turf, So
I think I think if there wasa possibility that Wisconsin could break that record,
(17:27):
you might see a match in CampRetel. Oh, that would be
so much fun. Diane Nordstrom breakingnews. No, no, this is
going great across uw Women's Athletics,presented by Great Clips with Diane Nordstrom.
You know, there have been somany great volleyball and I'm sorry, I'm
just sticking with volleyball now, butthere have been so many great volleyball players
over the years, and you know, most recently, Dana Ratke was the
(17:48):
National Player of the Year. Whattype of impact did she have on this
program and on you? Oh,I think one thing that obviously stands out
with Dana is her height, butas well as her ability to move.
She for somebody who was six seven, she was you know, she is
not awkward at all. Uh.I think she's six eight actually, but
(18:11):
she's you know, she danced asa youngster, so she had that great
ability and just her personality. Shewas so accepting of all the attention,
but it was willing to give allthe credit to her teammates because you know,
volleyball is a very much a teamsport, and you know, she
was a great spokesperson for the program, whether it was with the media or
(18:34):
even the fans that were out there. She always take took time for everyone.
I'm going to put you on thespot here the favorite UW athlete that
you've worked with in your thirty threeyears, and you can you can name
a bunch if you'd like. Butit's tough. It's I'm sure it's tough.
I think I would have to namea bunch. But some of the
volleyball players that stand out obviously areare Lauren CARLINI, Dana Retkey, but
(18:57):
some of the earlier ones like Charisaliving Stinch that she changed the just the
the athleticism of volleyball because she couldhit the ball so hard as a as
a middle But you know, Iworked with Susie Favor as an incredible runner,
but you know, so many othersports that I've worked with as well.
(19:21):
So those are the few that standout, but also the coaches that
I've worked with here have been amazing. How about the best female athlete in
UW history. You've seen your favorite, but the best that you've seen,
and there's so many. Again,you've worked with thirteen of the sports.
Yeah, boy, Susie Favor obviouslystands out, as you know, a
(19:42):
nine time ncuble A champion, andI don't that's not something that too many
many people can do. But DanaReki, a five time first team All
American in volleyball, rose Leavelle,look at the impact that she has made
on women's soccer. There's also youknow, swimmers like currently on the team,
(20:03):
Phoebe Bacon, you know, she'san Olympian, and Kelsey card a
two time Olympian. And so thereare so many women out there that are
great role models for current athletes andfans. That's another thing that's come a
long way in your time here,right, the acceptance of women's sports,
and we can see the athletic abilityof women that now have these opportunities,
(20:27):
and they're getting more and more opportunities. It wasn't that way, as you
mentioned back when you were a kid. Oh, definitely not. You know,
the equal opportunities that they have.I was when I was talking to
John Oddius about this. I said, we would take bands everywhere we drove
for track meets. You know,we didn't have a bus, we didn't
have a plane. We had totake bands. We had like one uniform
(20:48):
for four years or maybe two uniformsfor four years. We didn't get new
uniforms. We didn't have a lockerroom, you know, we had to
share a locker room in the shell. They were only like economic people here
at the time. So you knowthis the impact that women's athletics has made
on Wisconsin and nationally, you cansee it and look at women's volleyball and
(21:14):
women's hockey. You know, thoseare the two top women's sports here at
Wisconsin. And the backing is therenot only from fans but from the administration.
Yeah that you know, they're they'rewilling to put the money in whether
it's you know, a team charteringsomewhere or you know, getting the equipment
that they need. You know,this administration is very supportive of almost all
(21:37):
of their sports. And Diane Nordstromis with us going great across u W
Women's Athletics presented by Great Clips,and she's set to retire here soon in
just a few weeks, not nottoo far away. What are you going
to do with yourself? I keepI keep getting asked that, Brian.
Then I would definitely like to dosome volunteer time, hopefully working working in
(21:59):
maybe in a food or something likethat. I love thrift stores, so
I would love to volunteer in likea thrift store. I think that would
be great. I've actually been approacheda few people like to continue on and
maybe doing some volleyball stats so Ican still go to the matches and help
out where needed, so I'll stillbe a Badger fan, especially a volleyball
(22:21):
fan. Is there anything that youwill not miss it in your current position?
Oh? The hour, the weekendsand the hours at night, because
when you think about it, mostathletic events are held on weekends and on
nights, so you know, there'snot much you can do when if you
want to go to dinner, it'slike, sorry, I have a volleyball
match, or if I have swimmeet, or I have a track meet
(22:42):
or something like that, so Iwill not miss the hours that's required to
actually be at a match. Willbe fun to go to a volleyball match,
arrive like fifteen minutes before, andthen leave right afterwards. That hasn't
happened to me in over thirty years. You're going to get that chance next
season. You're going to get thatchance. I know you're an avid music
fan too, so I suppose you'regoing to be hitting the concert scene along
(23:04):
the line and dancing crazily. Right. Oh, there's so many There's so
many awesome local Wisconsin Madison bands thatyou know. It's like I have to
give a shout out to my favorite, which is Wheelhouse. So and it's
great to listen to local music,even national music. I have some friends
who that they like to travel aroundto concerts, and I'm like, oh,
(23:29):
I could go to like Red Rocksin Colorado or you know, some
of the other places and watch someof my favorite musical artists. Going to
be a world traveler too, Andyou have been right, Yeah. I
mean I think I've hit more thanlike almost like thirty seven thirty eight countries
so far, So I got towork on that list. I have a
few bucket lists that things that Istill want to do. I have like
(23:52):
Scotland, Egypt, African Safari,Galapagos. So my list keeps getting lost
again. Diane Nordstrom's with us.She's set to retire from UW Athletic brand
Communications. Can you put into wordswhat this experience has meant to you?
That is so tough. It's reallybittersweet because of you know, I've all
(24:17):
miss working with all the wonderful studentathletes and coaches and everyone within the brand
communications department and within the athletic department. But I'm so thankful for the experience
that I've had and the incredible successof the programs that I've worked with.
(24:38):
So and I've loved even learning newsports here, whether or not it's something
that I've never worked with before,or you know, something I've worked with
for thirty years, like volleyball.So it's been an amazing experience and I
can't wait to see what's next forWisconsin Athletics. It's been a pleasure knowing
(25:00):
you all these years and working withyou closely, and you've brought a smile
to my face every time I seeit too. Thanks so much for everything
you've done for women's athletics, forthe University of Wisconsin, and for fans
who get to hear and read allabout the young ladies and the teams that
you've been able to cover. Oh, thank you, Brian, It's been
a pleasure. Diane Nordstrom from UWBrand Athletic Communication, set to retire here
(25:25):
after the Wisconsin volleyball team wins itsnext national championship. The pressure is on
Kelly Sheffield. I'm Brian Posik.This is going great across UW Women's Athletics
presented by Great Clips and iHeartRadio.Going great across UW Women's Athletics presented by
Great Clips, Great Clips. It'sgoing to be great.
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