Diane Crowe Earl

Diane (née Crowe) Earl was one of Canada’s foremost paraplegic athletes in the era before the sports gained widespread attention. Diane was a member of the first women's Canadian Wheelchair basketball team. She was with Canada’s national women’s wheelchair basketball team from 1972. The team finished fourth at the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. At the 1990 world championships at Saint-Étienne, France, Diane won bronze when Canada finished third. Diane was the first person in Canada - who used a wheelchair for mobility - to be accepted into the Bachelor of Physical Education Program at Dalhousie University. She graduated with a physical education degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1975 - becoming the first person in Canada in a wheelchair to graduate with a degree in physical education. From 1987-90, she helped the province develop a barrier-free transportation policy. Alberta was among the first, if not the first, province in Canada to implement such a policy to help eliminate public transportation barriers for people with disabilities. Diane was inducted into the Wheelchair Basketball Canada Hall of Fame in 1996.

Diane passed away February 25, 2015 at home, at Jackfish Lake, AB. She was 67 years old.