York University (NE)

For Diane (Fogarty) Ries '78, the best part about playing volleyball isn't winning games. It's the bond of fellowship she shares with teammates.

That was especially true for her at York College, where her teammates shared a common love for the sport as well as for the Lord.

Ries started playing volleyball in 1972, the first year that her high school offered a girls' volleyball team. She was named the Bettendorf High School Most Valuable Player in 1973, 1974, and 1975. 

Ries was among the first women to receive an athletic scholarship at YC. She says it was an amazing thing for her to have her love of volleyball help pay her way through school. The program at YC was just getting started when Ries was recruited and she played on the team in its second year of existence. In 1976, she was named to two all-conference teams. She repeated that feat in 1977. 

Mike Lewis was the coach that recruited Ries to York College and she played for him her first year at YC. "Diane had real talent and made an immediate impact on the entire team. She helped us to be competitive right away," he says. "Diane was instrumental in helping establish and promote volleyball as a legitimate women's sport for York College."

Ries went on to play volleyball for Lubbock Christian University. After graduation, she continued to play with different teams affiliated with the U.S. Volleyball Association. Today, she travels to play games with an over-55 team out of St. Louis. She will be playing in the senior Olympics held in Minneapolis in 2015. In 2013, her team placed second in the nation.

Ries says she hates "recreational" volleyball. It's not because she's terribly competitive, she says. It's just that she doesn't like to see people not take the game seriously. "Volleyball has been very good to me," she says.

Because of her athletic achievements, her commitment to her sport, and for being a positive ambassador for York College and for her sport on the national scene, on this day, October 10, 2014, Diane Ries is inducted into the York College Athletic Hall of Fame.