“YAPS, YELLOW JACKETS AND HORNETS” Here come the Hornets! Go Hornets Go! How did Emporia State University really get to known as 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 game 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.
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