Spotlight

Summer 2007                                                                  Back to Spotlight home page

Extra innings for the mini-Hornets

Four years of eligibility is the limit for Emporia State University athletes, but there’s a certain team from the Kansas City area that will claim more than 10 years in Hornet uniforms before they even earn high school diplomas.

The “ESU Hornets,” a group of 10- and 11-year-olds from the Shawnee Mission North school district, are competing for the third year in the 3-and-2 Baseball Club of Johnson County. Sponsored by Pam Konetzni (BSB 1981, MBA 1984), a member of the ESU Foundation Board of Trustees, the little-leaguers wear the latest ESU baseball uniforms – and they will through high school. As a bonus, the kids took a field trip to ESU on May 4 and 5, touring campus, watching three ESU baseball games, playing an exhibition game against an Emporia youth team, and buying every single ESU hat at the Memorial Union bookstore.

The other 3-and-2 ballplayers take note of the ESU gear. Head coach Dave Gadwood hears it: “How’d you get that stuff? Where’d you get that stuff?” At the kids’ games,
ESU banners and logos are everywhere. For Konetzni, it’s just a bit of marketing for her alma mater, she said, “until everyone is clamoring to go to Emporia State.”

For the coaches, they’re free to teach the game of baseball instead of worrying about sponsors or good uniforms. “It’s huge,” Gadwood said of ESU’s support. “They have a university behind them, everybody is talking about them.”

The team has a couple other ESU connections. The manager is Michael Gonzalez (BA 1975, MS 1977), and the assistant coach with the baseball know-how is Joe Specht, who played baseball for ESU. “He’s the guy to go to in Johnson County if you want your kids to learn how to play baseball the right way,” Gadwood said.

The boys first saw an ESU game two years ago, at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, and talked about it for months. Now they have a two-day trip in their memories. “The kids will talk about it for years,” Gadwood said. “We want to make it an annual event.”

Last Updated April 17, 2008