Homecoming Honoree: Diana Block Huling

Growing up on a farm just outside San Angelo, Huling became a joiner at an early age, participating in various 4-H events and projects. Then at Wall High School, she was editor of the school newspaper, on the student council, a cheerleader, a member of the National Honor Society and a Homecoming queen.

“My dad taught us hard work and my mother taught us the importance of being involved,” Huling said. “Even though she was busy taking care of us and my dad and helping him farm, she was also a 4-H leader and active in the church and other organizations. I think staying involved is what keeps you going.”

When she arrived as a student at Angelo State College, Huling certainly kept it going. She worked in the Housing Office; participated in theatre arts, the Debate and Forensics Club and several other student organizations; was a member of the Angelettes drill team and the Alpha Chi national honor society; and was even voted Homecoming queen.

All that led to her being listed in Who’s Who Among Students at American Universities and Colleges, but perhaps her favorite ASU student memory comes from her time in the Student Government Association.

“I am proud of the growth of Angelo State, the facilities, programs and athletics.”

“There was one subject I remember well,” Huling said. “It sounds odd now, but the discussion was whether to allow women students to wear slacks on campus. The students definitely wanted that, and there was a lot of debate about it. So, working with the administration, we did get the dress code changed.”

Huling also met her husband, Marshall (Class of 1970), while they were students at ASU. After she graduated with her B.A. in education, they moved to Lubbock, where he began his career in insurance and she stayed home to take care of their two kids, Danya and Justin. They would later move to the Dallas area and then back to San Angelo, where their third child, Lindsay, was born. Throughout that time, Huling did her best to defy the title of “stay-at-home mom,” actively participating in the PTA, Junior League, her church and various other organizations.

“I can remember one day making six different trips into town because of meetings and taking and picking up children,” Huling said. “Between my children, my husband and the community, there was always something in which to be involved.”

Upon her return to San Angelo, Huling also reconnected with ASU by joining what was then the Ex-Students Association and immediately kick-starting efforts to build up its membership.

“The alumni are a major support of the university,” Huling said. “We had telephone banks and we were calling people trying to get them to join. That was our big priority, to build up the membership, and it worked. It was also an honor to be elected president of the association during that time.”

“All those who have come after us have also worked really hard to build up the alumni base because it’s good for the university,” she added. “Building the LeGrand Alumni and Visitors Center has also been one of the Alumni Association’s major accomplishments.”

Also a big fan of ASU athletics, Huling’s interest really sparked when her daughter, Lindsay, joined the Rambelles volleyball team. She began hosting team dinners and joined the Ram Club, which put her in the right place at the right time to get involved in the inaugural Phil George Blue & Gold Dinner and Auction, though it was not called that at the time.

“Jerry Vandergriff was starting an event to support the Athletics Department,” Huling said. “I brought over a donation, and I saw just he and his wife setting up for the dinner. So I started helping. Then I went to the dinner, and compared to what we have now, it was a very small affair.”

From that humble first dinner that included mostly coaches and almost no attendees from off campus, Huling continued to help grow the event into ASU’s largest fundraiser for athletics.

“I even got my sister, Jean Ann, involved, and before you knew it, she and I even chaired it for a couple of years,” Huling said. “It has been amazing to see it grow from that first small dinner into what it is now. It’s just phenomenal”

Another area of growth Huling has enjoyed watching is the expansion and evolution of the ASU campus since she arrived as a student in the late 1960s.

“The core of the campus was the Administration Building, what was the Journalism Building, the Gym and the University Center – that was it,” Huling said. “Then to see the addition of the library and so many other new buildings, to watch the high rises going up and now being torn down, the growth of the campus has been amazing.”

“But even though ASU has grown into so much more than what it was when I was here,” she added, “it still has that small-campus feel and you can still get to know a lot of the students, staff and professors on campus. I am proud of the growth of Angelo State, the facilities, programs and athletics – especially in women’s athletics as there were not any in 1967.”

For her outstanding, life-long and vital support of ASU, the Alumni Association has named Huling its 2024 Golden Ex of the Year.

“I feel so blessed and so honored that they asked me to be their Golden Ex.”

“All that I could say was, ‘Oh my! Are you sure?’” Huling said. “I’m very honored to be nominated. Homecoming is going to be exciting. I feel so blessed and so honored that they asked me to be their Golden Ex.”

Huling’s brother and sister, Michael and Jean Ann, her daughter, Lindsay, and two of her sons-in-law also graduated from ASU. She and Marshall also have eight grandchildren.