EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Diane Hank, Class Of 1986

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Diane (Dallianis) Hank’s name as the first Evergreen Park Mustang athlete to ever be put on the IHSA Softball All-State Series team in 1986 came in an unexpected way.

“By no means was I the best on the team, but we had a great team,” Hank remembers of the 1986 Mustang softball squad that went 27-7 overall and finished fourth in state under Hall-of-Fame Head Coach Marilyn Wax.

Hank was the Mustangs’ starting shortstop throughout her senior season that year. But she missed a game late in the season due to a planned college visit.

“Ms. Wax was not happy about that,” Hank remembers. “So she put in a junior to play shortstop that game because I wasn’t there. (The junior) did awesome, and Ms. Wax said she was going to keep her in as we headed to state.”

But with a bat that could surely help Evergreen Park in its quest for the school’s first state championship, Hank was moved to the designated hitter role as the team got deeper into the postseason.

“The level of competition (at state) was unlike any we had seen,” Hank remembers. “Me playing DH was the only way I’d get to play. I was devastated at the time, but was not going to quit and felt like I had nothing to lose.”

Even against the fierce competition, Hank mashed from the plate at state.

“I went into ‘nothing to lose’ mode and got a bunch of hits,” she said, noting that she made the All-State Series team as its designated hitter and was the only player not on the state championship or runner-up to earn a spot on the team.

“It was incredible, and a moment I will never forget.”

Hank played softball for four years and was also an All-Area volleyball player at Evergreen Park.

“All my friends at the time, a group of 15 or so girls that I still keep in touch with, were all cheerleaders and dancers,” she remembers. “I wasn’t good at any of that. I was definitely more of a tomboy.”

Hank considered continuing her softball career in college, but abandoned those plans in favor of majoring in business at the University of Illinois.

“I always wanted to be a lawyer,” said Hank, who is now going on three decades as a licensed attorney. She went to law school after college, and began her career as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

From there, Hank spent 10 years at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, where she prosecuted civil violations of federal security laws before moving to the regulation side of the office.

“Basically, my life was going a million miles a minute,” Hank said. “I’d be in New York at midnight for court and then go in to mom mode and have to be at tots class the next morning.”

As the mother of three, Hank said she needed “a time out” when the kids reached the ages of 7, 5 and 2.

“My mom always worked full time and felt bad about not being able to be there all the time,” Hank said. “It was a hard decision, but because of the ages of my kids at the time, they needed me at home.”

When the kids grew older, Hank re-entered the workforce in 2013, when she landed a job as Senior Corporate Counsel for Alliant Credit Union in Chicago. Having originally thought she’d go back to the SEC, Hank saw the opportunity at a credit union due to the rapidly changing financial industry.

Now, Hank serves as General Counsel (the top legal position) for Arizona Financial Credit Union. Since much of her work is remote, Hank remains in the Chicago area, living in west suburban Western Springs.

“I love it,” Hank says of her current position, a job she landed two years ago. “The whole credit union industry is very collaborative. There are about 140 in-house lawyers nationwide, and many face the same class action threats, so it’s a very collaborative environment with amazing colleagues.”

Western Springs, Hank says, has “a lot of the feel and qualities of Evergreen Park.”

But it’s Evergreen Park that will forever be known as her hometown.

“Evergreen Park is a very special slice of heaven,” she said.