Richard E. (Dick) Dietl, born May 31, 1930, in Dunnell, MN, has spent 62 years of his
life as a writer, mostly as a magazine or newspaper journalist. As a graduate of Luther
College, Decorah, IA, his introduction into college sports came as a stringer for the
LaCrosse Tribune, LaCrosse, WI, and a writer for the Luther College student paper,
Chips. After a trip to Korea as a writer at the expense of the United States Army, he
spent seven years in a teaching career he loathed. Dietl worked part-time at the Fairmont
Daily Sentinel, Fairmont, MN, until breaking away from education into full time
employment as its sports editor. That lasted a year before he began a 46-year trek through
college athletics at the University of Northern Iowa (then the State College of Iowa),
Drake University, West Texas State A&M University (then West Texas State University),
George Washington University, Duke University and the University of Oregon. Throw in
seven years with the National Rehabilitation Association, Alexandria, VA, and five years
under the wing of the White House with the President’s Committee on the Employment
of People with Disabilities. Dietl was married twice, had three children, Rick, Lizanne
and Carrie Ann with his first wife and four grandchildren. He suffered a sub-cranial
aneurysm in 1986 and a stroke in 2006, cutting short an oil painting career that he claims
was going nowhere. Just a worthy hobby. He proclaims himself sufficiently untalented
on any playing field, despite the inner feeling of being a potential star. He became an
observer of those with real athletic talent, devoting much of his time in exalting their
accomplishments with the written word.
