The Diehls: San Diego State Teams Don’t Leave Home Without Them

Two years ago, Jim and Margaret Diehl could have celebrated their 50th anniversary anywhere they wanted.

But because Feb. 2 falls in the middle of the college basketball season, they spent it rooting for the Aztecs from front row seats at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M. The Aztecs clobbered the Lobos, 61-37. For the Diehls, it was a better anniversary present than sterling silver.

The Diehls follow the football and basketball teams of San Diego State. In this case, follow can be defined in its most literal sense.

They watch the Aztecs at home and on the road--football for the last 13 years and basketball for the last five. The games at Texas-El Paso and New Mexico in 1980 are the only two football games on the road that they’ve missed.

The Diehls haven’t missed a road basketball game all season, and that includes celebrating their 52nd anniversary at the Special Events Center in Salt Lake City last Saturday night.

“They (basketball team) need all the encouragement they can get,” said 73-year old Jim Diehl. “We felt so bad when they lost in Hawaii and we hadn’t gone that we met the team at the airport. After all, no one else goes with them.”

After the Aztecs’ 67-65 loss to Utah last Saturday night, some of the players were actually apologetic to the Diehls. How could they let Jim and Margaret down on their big night?

Win or lose, the Diehls are just happy to be a part of it all. Margaret, 68, said it’s great to be around a winner, but she feels the players need even more encouragement after a loss.

“We cheer and support the teams in highs and lows, Jim said. “I feel we should be supportive and not critical.”

The Diehls don’t care to discuss travel costs, but the trips are a self-indulgence.

They love to travel, obviously, and have had the freedom to do whatever they want since Jim retired as president of Pacific Marine Propeller Co.

And folks really have to love to travel to follow a team in the Western Athletic Conference, with schools from Wyoming to Hawaii.

While many players and coaches remember places and stadiums by final scores. The Diehls remember people as much as places and games.

They remember, for example, when they were freezing at an Air Force game and the Cadets covered them with a blanket and invited them to an all-cadet barbecue.

“They’re so polite at Air Force,” Margaret said, “and that’s so refreshing.”

Indeed, the Diehls are more likely to praise the basketball team for its manners as for its 16-5 record. Former Aztec Michael Cage was the personification of the player--and person--the Diehls admire, and they spent a lot of time with him.

“We really got to know him and his parents,” Jim said, “and we still correspond with his parents.”

Like the Aztecs, the Diehls endure boredom of the road. They read a lot and relax while preparing themselves for a big night of rooting.

And they, too, get into the routine of relentless trips.

“During the football and basketball seasons,” Margaret said, “I just come home and do the laundry and pack another suitcase.”

During the season, the route from their home in Golden Hills--built by Margaret’s parents in 1911--to the airport is like a conveyor belt.

Once at Lindbergh Field, the Diehls formed a welcoming committee for the players. Before the Hawaii trip, the Diehls poured orange juice for the players while they waited for their plane in a hospitality room. They are more like grandparents than fans, in some ways.

And then there are the lollipops. Jim Diehl always has a dufflebag full of them. You name it. Peanut butter. Butterscotch. Chocolate.

Dressed in a red and black SDSU sweater, red shirt, black tie, red socks and black shoes, the “Candyman” distributes treats throughout the airplane, and not just to players and coaches.

“You can’t just give them to players,” Jim said. “That’s an NCAA no-no.”

Diehl has been an Aztec supporter long enough to know just how far a fan can go before it incurs the wrath of the NCAA.