2 legends, 1 legacy

The volleyball sidelines in Hamilton County this fall will be missing 63 years worth of head coaching experience -- 1,192 victories to 547 losses -- and two passionate women who made the sport better in Nebraska. 
Hampton’s Diane Torson and Aurora’s Lois Hixson are both hanging up their coaching whistles after building and adding to a pair of dominant area programs that stand the test of time. 
The two Hamilton County greats have accomplished more in their time than most of us ever will and did so with humility, grace and determination. 
In my experience working with both, while great at what they do, each one had vastly different ways to get the job done. 
Look up intense in the dictionary and you’ll find a picture of Diane. She will cut a hole through a block of ice with a simple look. 
And her players continually responded to that look. I was in my early years working here in 2016 when the Hawks put together one of the best seasons anyone could imagine. 
Genuinely, the best team in the state that season alongside Omaha Skutt, who was nationally ranked that year. I wanted nothing more in 2016 than to see Hampton take the floor against Aurora in a friendly match just to see what would happen. 
My apologies to Lois, but there’s no way Hampton would have lost that match, and there’s no reason to feel bad about that. There probably weren’t many teams in the state that could beat those Hawks. 
To go along with the undefeated record, Hampton only lost two sets that season -- a five-set match over Exeter-Milligan in the CRC finals at the York City Auditorium, arguably the best venue in Nebraska. 
The running joke in the office in 2016 after game days wasn’t if Hampton won the night before, it was how many points the other team managed to score. Anything above 20 was eye-brow raising.  
One thing I was genuinely curious about was how Diane and Lois approached the changes in scoring from side-out to rally. 
Previously, the only time a team could score is if they were the ones serving. Now, a point is awarded on each play, no matter what. 
Diane is a firm believer in serving and passing as the cornerstones of her brand of volleyball. 
That never changed, even as the entire game shifted to a rally-style score. Call her old fashioned, but Diane still to this day likes the old way of scoring, where the only way to earn a point is by having serve. 
See? Serving and passing.
“We won a lot of games by other teams missing a serve,” she said. “I’m not sure if it sped up the game or not, but I believe in serving aggressive, and it was hard for me to teach them to serve aggressive and not miss serves. It was a hard adjustment for me.”
For Diane, earning your points in the old way of scoring was what she enjoyed most. 
Because of the scoring changes, the Hampton great initially became more conservative. That didn’t last long.
“We had to work extra hard to not miss serves,” she said. “I went back to what I knew how to do.”
It took some getting used to, Lois shared from her own perspective, while also pointing out the change was ultimately good for the game.
“It was an exciting time,” she mentioned. “It was scary, too, to leave side-out scoring, but I think it’s been a good change for everybody for the enjoyment of the game.” 
Not only that, but one of Lois’s teams at Chambers was used to “test” out the new scoring system.
“That was when you played football and volleyball on the same night,” she recalled. “Everyone left to the football game because our match was so evenly matched and went five sets. We got to go out to the football game afterward and let everyone know we won.”
Lois mentioned initially being hesitant to the change, primarily because of how it would affect the serving game. 
Obviously, coaches were worried about giving the opposing team free points just for missing a serve. 
“I think everyone thought they’d have to lollipop serves,” Lois said with a smile. “Actually, it’s raised the level of serving in our game.”
For Lois, her approach to the game of volleyball has always been scoring multiple points in a row, a strategy she admitted hasn’t changed much despite the shift from side-out scoring to rally. 
“If you do the math, if you score three points in a row and do that three or four times a set, you’re going to win,” she said. “That’s how I’ve always approached it. Momentum is what you’re looking for.”
I mentioned earlier about the York City Auditorium and if you’ve ever seen a game there, volleyball or basketball, you know what I’m talking about. 
It’s loud, the crowd is sitting on top of the hardwood and it just has an old-school feel. It’s the purest form of athletics. 
The CRC tournament is one of the best in the state. Those who have played in, watched or coached in it have no problem admitting that. 
Diane had plenty of success, winning five CRC championships while finishing runner-up five other times. 
Often, the winner of the CRC tournament becomes a state championship favorite. 
“The CRC has been a great conference. We have at least one team make state on a very regular basis and there for awhile a CRC team was always winning state tournaments,” Diane said. “Winning the CRC tournament is probably harder than winning state because the conference has been so tough and dominating over the years. It brings out the best in everybody.”
Diane even pointed out during those heated CRC finals games, that she would see coaches from other conferences in the stands, scouting out who the team to beat in Lincoln later in the year would be. 
On multiple occasions over the years, Diane has coached against her former players, most recently Brittany (Dose) Klingsporn up at High Plains. 
“It’s odd, but it’s exciting,” she said. “It’s also strange because it’s something you don’t think about. It’s exciting because they enjoyed volleyball enough to get into coaching.”
Between Diane and Lois, the pair has just shy of a 70 percent winning percentage. Neither reached 300 losses while both had more than 500 wins.
Both coaches enjoyed seeing their players celebrate. For Lois, it was watching her teams celebrate wins over teams they weren’t supposed to beat.
“My best moment of any time is that last point as you beat a team you weren’t supposed to beat,” she said. “Being one of the smallest teams in Class B, we had to battle every day. I love to watch our emotion when we weren’t supposed to win and they did.”
Both Diane and Lois aren’t going anywhere. They’re not retiring from teaching, just the varsity sidelines. 
And that’s okay. For 63 combined years, they’ve given their time to help student-athletes play the game of volleyball and do it at an extremely high level. 
But, the million dollar question, how do they want their hall of fame plaque to read? 
“I’m hoping the girls look back and say Coach Torson made us work hard and held us accountable,” Diane said. “Just lifelong skills they can use past volleyball and into their careers.”
“The most important thing to me that has evolved is the fans in the stands may agree or disagree, but as long as the players and I know the roles, that’s all I could ask for,” Lois said. “It took time to develop that. I’m proud of all the kids and their hard work over the years. They accepted the expectation and kept moving the needle forward.”
While that may be true, Diane and Lois deserve more credit than they’ll ever get for moving the needle of the entire sport forward. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.