Northwest Missouri State Bearcats Baseball Report: North by Northwest - NxNW

NxNW stops in Emporia, Kansas, for a look at Emporia State University Hornets.

Location - Emporia, Kansas
Founded - 1863
Enrollment - 6,258
Colors - Old Gold & Black
Nickname - Hornets

Why the Hornets?

A casual conversation between Vic Trusler and an Emporia Gazette reporter named Cecil Carle led the establishment of the Hornets as Emporia State’s mascot. In the early 1930’s, the Teachers College students were called the Yaps. It is uncertain why the students were called that except popular legend suggests that because they were teachers, they did a lot of “yapping.” In any case, most of the students were not fond of the moniker.

Trusler, a legendary figure on campus in the 1930’s, and coach at Roosevelt High School, and Carle, without design, were instrumental in getting the name changed.

Carle was seeking information on the official name of the Roosevelt High School team. Trusler suggested he call the Roosevelt team the Bluejackets since they wore blue jerseys.

In that momentous conversation, Trusler further commented that the students at the Teacher College really did not like being called the Yaps. Instead he suggested they be called the Yellow Jackets because the men wore yellow sweaters with black stripes on the sleeves. And, like the insect, they had quite a sting to them.

Nothing further was said, but the next Gazette article about the Teachers College referred to the students as Yellow Jackets.

The evolution of the name Yellow Jacket to Hornet is almost anti-climatic. A lack of newspaper space forced the Yellow Jacket to be shortened to Harnet. For a while

the two names were interchanged and used throughout the state.

To further cement the Hornet tradition, the football team received new uniforms in 1936. They were almost entirely black prompting some to suggest that the team be called the Mud Daubers, which are yellowjackets, which are hornets, which gave more sting to the legend.

“Corky” first appeared on the scene in 1934 when Paul Edwards, then a sophomore, made what he thought was a more representative figure of the school mascot than the strereotyped hornet being used. He entered it in a contest and finished second. Not to be discouraged Edwards redrew his hornet and showed it to Ray Maul, then manager of the Memorial Union, who thought he could “use the buzzard.” The Corky figure would soon become popular on campus.

Edwards liked his Corky so much he patented the bug in 1936, which dated its 50th anniversary to 1986. During Homecoming 1987, Edwards dedicated a Corky the Hornet statue he sculpted and is now on display in the Memorial Union Bookstore.

A large number of Corky’s cropped up beginning in 2003 during a Parade of Corkys throughout Emporia and many of them are still on display around campus

and in the community.

MIAA Championships - 6

1993, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011

NCAA Regional Appearances - 9
1993, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

NCAA World Series Appearances - 2
2006 & 2009

NCAA World Series Runner-up - 2009

Notable Coaches

Brian Embery - 1987-2003 - 458-320 - 5-time MIAA Coach of the Year (now coaches Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington;)

Dave Bingham - 1973-1987 - He helped Emporia State to the NAIA World Series twice. He played in the Washington Senators' farm system. He coached Emporia State and had a record of 557-223. Bingham went on to be the Head Coach of the University of Kansas from 1988-1995. With the University of Kansas, he participated in the 1993 NCAA College World Series. He also spent time as an assistant coach for the University of New Mexico and Nebraska-Lincoln. Finally, he was an assistant coach for the USA Olympic baseball team in 1984 and 1988.

Current Coach - Bob Fornelli - 2004-Present

Coach Fornelli will enter his 10th season as Emporia State's Head Coach in 2013. Except for 2012, Fornelli took his Emporia State Hornets to the NCAA play-offs every year since he hs been coach.

Fornelli took his Emporia State squad of 2009 to the farthest the school has even been with a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division 2. Fornelli's first head coaching experience appears to have been at another MIAA school (Fort Hays State) before entering the head coach position at Emporia State. In 7 years, Coach Fornelli earned 306-113 at Fort Hays State when they were a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletics Conference.

Coach Fornelli recruits 25 players from the State of Kansas (16 came from another school via transfer); 2 kids from the State of Texas, 3 kids from the State of Missouri, 4 from Oklahoma, among others.