Baseball | 8/27/2012 5:11:00 PM
August 27, 2012--Five individuals and a national championship softball team will be inducted into the ESU Athletic Hall of Honor on Saturday, October 13 as part of Homecoming festivities at Emporia State. The inductees will join a group of 170 former student-athletes, coaches and administrators and 12 teams who have distinguished themselves, the University and their professions through their athletic achievement.
Three of the individuals competed primarily in track & field and combined to win eight individual national championships.
The group will be honored at the annual Hall of Honor Breakfast at 8 a.m. in the Memorial Union’s Webb Hall. The public is invited to attend. The cost of the breakfast is $12. Reservations can be made by calling the ESU Athletic Development Office at (620) 341-5873.
2012 ESU ATHLETIC HALL OF HONOR INDUCTEES
Art Bloomer, Football, Basketball, Track & Field 1951-55.
Art Bloomer lettered in football and basketball all four years and competed in track & field at Emporia State. Following his graduation he served 31 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, flying 330 combat missions over North and South Vietnam. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General, retiring as the commanding General at the Marine Corps Air Bases in El Toro, Calif. Bloomer was named ESU Distinguished Alumni in 1985.
Heather Leverington, Women's Track & Field 1997-2002.
Heather Leverington was a five-time national champion in the shot put, winning the indoor title three times from 1999-2001, and outdoor championships in 1999 and 2001. She is the ESU indoor and outdoor record holder in shot and set the NCAA D-II National Outdoor meet record in shot twice in her career. A nine-time MIAA Champion in various throwing events, she also holds the MIAA indoor and outdoor meet records in shot. Leverington was named the 2002 NCAA Kansas Woman of the Year and earned a 2002 NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship.
Bob Oden, Men's Track & Field 1957-60.
Bob Oden was a two-time NAIA National Champion in the pole vault. He won back-to-back national championships in 1959 and 1960 and was a three-time Central Intercollegiate Conference champion in the pole vault. He set conference record as a junior, clearing 14-02.50 in 1959.
Rex Ressler, Track & Field, 1957-61.
Rex Ressler was the 220 yard national champion and placed second in the 100 yard dash as a freshman in 1958. His school record time of 20.92 in the 200m at the 1958 Central Intercollegiate Conference Championships stood for 53 years, before finally being broken in 2011. He swept the 100 and 220 yard dashes at the CIC Championships as a freshman and sophomore.
Tod Schulz, Baseball 1985-86.
Schulz was a First-Team NAIA All-American outfielder in 1986 when he batted .449 with 19 home runs, 77 RBI and 78 runs as he led the Hornets to the NAIA World Series. His .449 average was a single-season record at the time. He ranks third all-time in home runs at Emporia State with 30, second all-time with a career batting average of .402, eighth in career doubles with 37 and 13th in career RBI with 126.
1984 NAIA National Champion Softball Team
Emporia State became the first school to win back to back NAIA Championships in softball with a 32-5 campaign in 1984. ESU won all five games at the World Series by shutout, the first and so far only time in NAIA history a team has gone unscored on at the national tournament. The Hornets reeled off 15 straight wins plus two exhibition wins over junior college teams to end the season. The win capped a four-year run that included two national championships and a runner-up finish in the NAIA.
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