General | 9/8/2025 5:14:00 PM
September 8, 2025-National Champions, All-Americans, school record holders and a Fab Four national semifinal team make up this year's induction class into the Emporia State Athletic Hall of Honor. Five individuals and one team will join a group of 245 former student-athletes, coaches and administrators and 23 teams who have distinguished themselves, the University and their professions through their athletic achievement.
This year's class will be inducted at the Hall of Honor Luncheon at 12 noon in the KSTC Ballroom of the ESU Memorial Union on Friday, October 31. The public is invited to attend and reservations can be made at
esuhornets.com starting September 9. The cost of the induction ceremony is $35. The class will then be recognized at halftime of the Hornet football game against Northwest Missouri on Saturday, November 1.
2025 ESU ATHLETIC HALL OF HONOR INDUCTEES
Andrew Etheridge, Men's Track & Field 2011-15. The Wichita, Kan. native won Emporia State's first NCAA Division II National Championship on the track for the men when he captured the 2011 title in the 110m hurdles. Etheridge was a nine-time All-American, earning first-team honors in the 110m hurdles and the 4x100m relay in 2011 and 2013 outdoors, and the 60m hurdles indoors in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015. He was the national runner-up in the 60m hurdles in 2011. He holds the Emporia State record in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.85 at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships and the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.87 at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. He is on two of the top three 4x100m relay teams in ESU history, running 40.03 in 2011 to finish second in the MIAA and 40.07 in the prelims of the 2013 NCAA Championships at the time of his induction.
Kadri Kelve, Women's Track & Field/Cross Country 2001-03. The Tallin, Estonia native was a National Champion and school record holder in the 3000m steeple chase for Emporia State. Kelve set the school record in the steeplechase with a time of 10:20.81 in 2003. In 2002-03 she was the MIAA cross country champion and won MIAA championships on the track in the 800m, Mile, 3000m and 5000m indoors and the 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m and steeplechase outdoors in one of the most dominant years for a distance runner in conference history. She ranks second all-time for ESU in the indoor 3000m run, third in the outdoor 800m, indoor mile and 5000m, and fourth in the 1500m outdoors in Emporia State history at the time of her induction.
Merissa Quick, Women's Basketball 2011-15. The Cheney, Kan. native earned WBCA Honorable Mention All-American status as she led the Lady Hornets to the Final Four as a senior in 2015. Quick is the career and single season leader in blocked shots at Emporia State with 123 as a senior in 2014-15 and with 326 in her four-year career. She was a two-time MIAA All-Defensive Team performer and was named first-team All-MIAA as a senior after earning second-team honors as a junior. At the time of her induction, she is ranked ninth in career scoring for the Lady Hornets with 1,554 points and fifth in rebounding with 919 boards. She is one of just two Lady Hornets with 1500 career points and 900 career rebounds. She played professionally for several years after graduation.
Dick Utter, Track & Field 1954-57. Utter was the NAIA National Champion in Pole Vault in 1955, setting an NAIA meet record and school record in the process. He helped lead the Hornets to a second-place national finish in 1955. He was the NAIA National Runner-up in 1956, finishing behind the eventual Olympic Gold Medalist. He was a three-time Central Intercollegiate Conference Champion, winning in 1954, 1956 and 1957. He set the school record by clearing 14'4" at the 1956 Emporia Relays and at the time it was the best vault ever by a Kansas college athlete.
Al Viebrock, Baseball 1972-73. The West Islip, New York native transferred to Emporia State from the College of Emporia after the 1971 season. In 1972 Viebrock pitched 97.1 innings, giving up only 26 hits while striking out 98 with a 1.11 ERA and a WHIP (Walks plus hits per inning pitched) of .55 - the best single season ever in ESU baseball history. In 1973 he won another eight games and had a 2.01 ERA in 67 innings before suffering from heat issues in the district tournament. His career WHIP is .89 which is second all-time for the Hornets. He signed with the Yankees and pitched for five years with four different organizations, reaching the AA level.
Team
1947 Men's Basketball Team. The Hornets finished fourth in NAIA National Tournament in 1947. They defeated Lawrence Tech (Mich.), Canterbury, and Beloit before falling to Marshall in overtime in the Fab Four Semifinals in Kansas City. KSTC would lose to Arizona State in the third-place game. The Hornets were led by All-American Wilbur Reeser and won the CIC Championship with an 18-9 overall record.
