DEARBORN, Mich. – The mid-1980s for the University of Michigan-Dearborn women's basketball team was dominated by Diane Calliway, as the standout from Detroit set standards that still fill the Wolverine record books.
The University of Michigan-Dearborn Department of Athletics & Recreation is excited to welcome Calliway home to Dearborn as an inductee into the first class of the UM-Dearborn Athletics Hall of Fame. The induction banquet is set for 7 pm Thursday in the Michigan Room of Fairlane Center South in Dearborn.
Calliway led, then known as the Wolves, to successful campaigns from 1984-88, as UM-Dearborn totaled double-digit wins in three of her four seasons. She graduated as the program's career scoring leader, with 1,744 points, holding the record until Kellie Taylor surpassed Calliway in 1997. She remains second on the UM-Dearborn all-time scoring list as one of seven Wolverines to surpass 1,000-career points.
Calliway's 1,288 career rebounds remain the benchmark for UM-Dearborn women's basketball. Her total is more than 300 rebounds better than the next name on the UM-Dearborn list. She is the only Wolverine to surpass 1,000 career rebounds in the more than 40 years of the program. As of 1999, Calliway also held the Wolverine record for field goal percentage at .535 and most blocks in a career with 92 (records for blocks and field goal percentage are incomplete after 1999).
In addition to her career records, Calliway ranks in the top five in career games played, field goals, attempts, free throws made and free throws attempted. She holds three of the top 10 scoring seasons, with a personal best of 501 points as a senior in 1987-88, as she averaged 19.3 per game. Her single-season best of 352 rebounds in 1986-87 is second in program history.
After graduation in 1988 from UM-Dearborn, Calliway entered the human resource management field and has had a successful 25-year career so far. She is currently the Director of Human Resources and Administrative Services for the Cobo Center in Detroit. She is responsible for talent management, labor relations, employee development and safety compliance.
Before joining the Cobo staff, Calliway was a human resource manager at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service for eight years. In her role at Jackson Hewitt, she was responsible for the day-to-day corporate field human resources, financial operations and sales for 35 branch locations. While there, she received the Operational Excellence Award for six years in a row (2008-2013) and the Employee Development & Retention Award for three years in a row (2010-2013).
Calliway joins fellow inductees, Pat Hughes (Men's Basketball), Jesse Hubenschmidt (Men's Ice Hockey), Mike "Gib" Gibson (Former Volleyball Head Coach) and Dr. Peggy Foss (Former UM-Dearborn Director of Athletics) in the first class to be honored by the UM-Dearborn Athletics Hall of Fame.
