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Football Links
Jones Field at Welch Stadium
In 2007 Emporia State University will celebrate
its 70th anniversary of playing in Francis G. Welch
Stadium and the third season of playing on Jones Field.
The stadium is named in honor of ESU's long-time coach and athletic director. Welch guided the efforts of the Hornet football program from 1928-42, and then again from 1946-54. In those two spans, Welch won 115 games and is the all-time winningest coach in ESU football history.
The Super Turf playing surface is named for the W.S. and E.C. Jones Trust that provided the lead gift for the artificial surface.
Opened in 1937 and dedicated in 1960, the stadium sits just north of beautiful Lake Wooster and has seated as many as 10,000 fans when bleachers were added in each end zone. Permanent lighting makes it possible to televise games and play at night.
The facility also has been used extensively
by individuals outside the University community.
Welch Stadium is the home field of
the Emporia High School football team and
has hosted the Hershey Track and Field
State Championships, Special Olympics, the
1998 and 2004 Kansas Shrine Bowl. The
1995, 1999 and 2006 NCAA Division II National
Track Championships were held here as well.
In 1992, the “GOING THE DISTANCE CAMPAIGN” was initiated. With its completion, track and field events once again were held at ESU. In 1994, as part of the campaign’s second phase, the east and west side concession areas, restroom facilities, and entrances were renovated. A new scoreboard was hoisted into place at the south end of the stadium and a new landscaped fence was erected. In 1997, the final phase was completed in time for the University’s 100th season of intercollegiate football.
The Hutchinson Family Pavilion is a three-tiered facility which
has enclosed theatre seating on the first floor, a president’s box and four sky-boxes on the second floor, and a game-day management
and media center on the third floor. The facility was one of the first on the NCAA Division II level to offer enclosed skyboxes and is still one of only a few across the nation.
The first game at Welch Stadium came on
Armistice Day, 1937 when the Hornets tied St.
Benedict's College, 20-20.
In 1973, a record crowd of 10,000 saw the
Hornets defeat Northern Colorado, 10-0, as
the Hornets vaulted to a No. 3 ranking in the
NAIA. ESU tied UNC for the Great Plains
Athletic Conference championship in 1973.
The Hornets defeated Washburn, 64-35,
in front of a regional television audience, on
October 30, 1997. Brian Shay became the
school’s all-time leading rusher and finished
the game with an MIAA-record 469 all-purpose
yards.
On September 19, 1998 the Hornets
defeated Pittsburg State, 38-28, in front of
9,200 fans - the second largest crowd in
Welch Stadium history. Emporia State again defeated Pittsburg
State on October 12, 2002 this time by a
score of 13-3 on the way to the Hornets first
postseason appearance since 1989.
The addition of Jones Field at Welch
Stadium to the Hutchinson Family Pavilion
ESU has maintained its position as one of
the finest football facilities at the NCAA
Division II level in the nation.
FACILITY RECORDS
1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0-5
1982 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3
1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-4
1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3
1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-1
1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-0
1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-2
1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-1
1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-0
1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-3
1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-2
1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-1
1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3
1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3
1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-4
1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-5
1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-1
1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-1
1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-3
2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-2
2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-3
2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-1
2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-2
2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-2
2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-4
2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-4
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72-61 (.541)
