LARAMIE – Athletic departments have been described as the window to a university.
 
For the last 37 years, Diane Dodson has been the friendly face administrators, coaches, fans, media and student-athletes first see through the window of the Wyoming communications department.
 
The Torrington native started promoting the Cowboys and Cowgirls in her various roles within media relations in 1987 and has been serving as the executive administrative assistant to the UW Collegiate Athletics Hall of Fame since its inception in 1993.
 
Dodson will be inducted herself as part of the 2024 class during the annual banquet on Sept. 6 in the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center.
 
"I was really surprised when the committee told me they were going to put me in," Dodson said on the One Wyoming Podcast. "I feel like this has always been a labor of love and I never expected to be one of the inductees myself. It's such an honor to be in there with all these people that I've looked up to and admired. All these talented and skilled people.
 
"When people bring it up, I always tell them I'm probably the least athletic person in the hall of fame."
 
Dodson was hired by another member of the hall of fame, longtime sports information director and senior associate athletics director Kevin McKinney, when Paul Roach was starting his remarkable run as the football coach while also serving as UW's athletics director.
 
The Cowboys went 16-0 in the WAC during Roach's first two seasons while winning the conference championship in 1987 and 1988.
 
Jim Brandenburg's legendary basketball team, led by Sports Illustrated cover boy Fennis Dembo and NBA first-round pick Eric Leckner, made the Sweet 16 in the 1987 NCAA Tournament.
 
Other UW sports, including baseball and women's basketball, were also highly competitive.
 
"I thought, wow, this is the greatest job ever," Dodson said. "I thought it was always going to be like that and they were always going to win. It was just a real high point in Wyoming athletics."
 
Dodson, a long-suffering Boston Red Sox fan, said dealing with a baseball curse for most of her life helped her prepare for the ups and downs that come with rooting for the Pokes.
 
"When she came in, we were overwhelmed because we were rolling," McKinney said of hiring Dodson during a golden era. "Here Paul was such a national story. We had somebody from some national (outlet) weekly that wanted to talk to Paul, wanted to know about him. He was just the story of the year, which is understandable. But we were just juggling a lot of balls and that's where she brought stability."
 
Over the decades, Dodson has handled game-day operations for football and basketball, media credentialing, departmental expense reports and other thankless behind-the-scenes duties.
 
Roach gave Dodson her nickname, "D.D.," which most of her colleagues still use with affection.
 
Some of the greatest student-athletes in UW history, including former NBA player and fellow hall of famer Reggie Slater, remain in touch with the kind person who made them feel at home in Laramie.
 
"She has really been one of the faces of our program," said Tim Harkins, the former UW associate athletics director for communications who retired this year after joining the department in 1991. "People may not realize that, but whenever we had any interactions with media, Diane was a lot of times the first person they saw when they came in the office. I just can't say enough about her ability to make people feel welcome, make people feel appreciated. And that goes not just for the media, but for student-athletes and for our staff in the media relations office. She was always a great mentor to the young people coming to our office.
 
"I think if you asked people around the department, Diane's probably one of the most beloved people in the department. Everybody enjoys working with Diane."
 
Dodson has witnessed so many memorable events, from the highs of championships to the lows of tragedies involving student-athletes, it's difficult for her to pin down the ones that truly stand out.
 
But from the media relations angle, making sure Josh Allen's "Pro Day" workout went smoothly in front of a horde of NFL executives, scouts and coaches was a highlight.
 
"We had so many national media here and so many people, big names, and it was such a big event," Dodson said. "We had never done that much with pro day before and we had to have passes for it and closed it to the public because it was such a big deal. Troy Aikman was here, and ESPN sent people, and the NFL Network sent people. We just had so many familiar faces here.
 
"Josh did such a good job. It was something we weren't used to, but it was such a big deal, and I thought it went well. We got a lot of compliments on it because we handled it well."
 
Since the inception of the hall of fame, Dodson has supported the selection committee by coordinating nominations, providing historical data on candidates and making sure inductees have their tickets and plans set so they can enjoy one of the greatest nights of their lives at the annual ceremony.
 
McKinney did his best to make sure the committee included his favorite Cowgirl this year.
 
"She is the hall of fame. I wrote my letter of nomination, which was a couple pages actually; they're not usually that long," McKinney said. "She was just so much a part of it that she had to be in it. I'm very proud of her and I'm very proud that the committee saw it the way I did. It means everything. Diane needed to be in there and it worked out beautifully."
 
Dodson is still the first face visitors to the communications office in the North Fieldhouse see.
 
Nick Seeman, who is in his first year leading the department following Harkins' retirement, is happy that tradition continues as UW prepares for what should be an eventful 2024-25 for athletics.
 
"The most important thing everybody needs to know about D.D. is everyone that comes through here … there's always a lot of former student-athletes who are upstairs looking for D.D.," Seeman said. "I think all everyone needs to know is how much she means to us. She is just amazing. Everything she does makes our lives easier."
 
Dodson will be inducted with former football players Jovon Bouknight (2002-05) and Adam Goldberg (1999-2002), swimmer Kelsey Conci (2009-2012), volleyball player Jil Robins Thomason (1991-1994), cross country coach Jim Sanchez (1981-2003) and women's basketball coach Joe Legerski (2004-2019).
 
"This university means the world to me and athletics means the world to me. I know what this institution means to so many people. I'm right there with them," Dodson said. "I went to school here, graduated from here and I like to think of myself as a Cowgirl through and through. Both of my daughters went to school here, my husband went to school here, so it just means the world to me. I'm very honored."
 
(Editor's note: This is the seventh in a seven-part series profiling the 2024 UW Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame class. Tickets to the induction banquet, which begins at 6 p.m. on Sept. 6 in the Gateway Center, are now on sale and can be purchased here: https://one.bidpal.net/wyohalloffame2024/welcome)
 
If you are interested in learning more about NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) or would like to support our student-athletes, please visit 1wyo.org. 1WYO was created out of Wyoming's culture of neighbor helping neighbor. The mission is to promote and strengthen local charitable organizations and develop Wyoming student athletes.

Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.