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Rebeca Herrera, Patricia Seanz-Reyes – Emporia HOTT

Posted on by Pat Melgares

Emporia is HOTT.

Two women standing against wall posing for camera
Rebeca Herrera (left) and Patricia Saenz-Reyes

In this case, I’m not referring to the temperature. HOTT is an acronym for Hispanics Of Today and Tomorrow, an organization that is working to promote higher education opportunities for Hispanic students in the Emporia area.

Rebeca Herrera and Patricia Saenz-Reyes of Emporia are active in Hispanics Of Today and Tomorrow. Rebeca is of Spanish and Mexican descent and grew up in Atlanta.

“Moving from a large metropolitan city in the east to the great plains of the Midwest was a culture shock,” she said. “I have now been in Emporia for four years. This wonderful community has welcomed me with open arms.”

She is now membership director at the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce.

Saenz-Reyes is a self-described “border baby,” born in El Paso. Her mother is an American citizen and her father is Mexican. Patricia went to school in Juarez, Mexico until the 9th grade when she transferred to El Paso to continue her education.

Her career took her to west Texas where she was an insurance executive before coming to Emporia. Now she is the migrant community resource coordinator and student and family resource specialist with the Emporia school district.

Continue reading “Rebeca Herrera, Patricia Seanz-Reyes – Emporia HOTT” →

Doug Bjerkaas, Dynamic Discs, part 2

Posted on by Pat Melgares

Let’s go to the disc golf capitol of the world. We could travel around the globe looking for such a designation, or we could go directly to… Emporia, Kansas.

Man standing in front of shelf filled with discs
Doug Bjerkaas, Dynamic Discs

Today we’ll learn more about a remarkable business in Emporia which, in many ways, has made its community the center of the disc golf universe.

Last week we learned about Dynamic Discs, the disc golf products company that was founded by Jeremy Rusco in Emporia.

Doug Bjerkaas is the president of Dynamic Discs today. Bjerkaas is an Illinois native who had a career in higher education administration and was playing disc golf for fun.

In 2007, Bjerkaas was living in Denver and attended the disc golf Frontier Open in Hays. He bought some Dynamic Discs t-shirts out of the back of Rusco’s truck. “I was very impressed with how approachable and friendly he was,” Bjerkaas said.

As a player, Bjerkaas was sponsored by Dynamic Discs, as was his daughter in later years. After serving as a tournament director for Dynamic Discs, he joined the company in 2016 and moved up through the ranks to become president in 2021. Through the years, he has seen the remarkable growth of the company and sport.

“Our purpose statement is simple: Dynamic Discs enriches lives through disc golf,” Bjerkaas said.

Continue reading “Doug Bjerkaas, Dynamic Discs, part 2” →

Jeremy Rusco, Dynamic Discs, part 1

Posted on by Pat Melgares

Let’s go to the Super Bowl – that is, the Super Bowl of disc golf.

It’s the Professional Disc Golf Association World Championships in Ogden, Utah. Many of the top competitors are using discs from a remarkable Kansas company.

Portrait, Jeremy Rusco
Jeremy Rusco

Jeremy Rusco is founder and CEO of Dynamic Discs, the business that provides the discs for many top competitors in the sport. Jeremy was a Great Bend native who came to Emporia State to play football, run track and study business. Jeremy also discovered the sport of disc golf.

Disc golf is played just like traditional golf in that the goal is to get to the target in as few tries as possible, except the player is using a round plastic disc instead of a ball, and the target is a metal pan mounted on a post, with chains hanging down to break the disc’s momentum when it reaches the target.

Of course, the player doesn’t use a club, but throws the disc at the target like throwing a frisbee.

However, the player needs different discs just like a golfer needs different clubs. In other words, discs are designed differently for drives, putts, etc. A competitive disc golfer might have 15 or more discs with a bag to carry them.

Rusco discovered the sport as a student at Emporia State. He found it was a lot of fun and figured he could buy more discs and sell the extras to others. He bought discs, put on cool designs and dyed them, and sold them on eBay. As interest grew, he set up his own business. After asking his girlfriend (now wife) Wendy what to name the company, he settled on the name Dynamic Discs.

“I never expected it to be anything more than a college hobby, but after graduating in 2006, it was evident that there was something special about the disc golf community,” Rusco said. Continue reading “Jeremy Rusco, Dynamic Discs, part 1” →

Larry Goodwin, Goodwin Industries

Posted on by Pat Melgares

Would you like to buy a four-door truck for $180? How about a semi truck for $225? Maybe a stock trailer for $150? Those prices can’t be real, so you must know that I’m just toying with you.

Shelf with miniature toys
Goodwin Miniatures

Today we’ll meet an innovative Kansas company that has diversified its product line to include miniature-sized trucks and farm equipment — toys that are being shipped coast to coast and beyond.

Larry and Teresa Goodwin are owners of Goodwin Industries in Burns. One of the company’s product lines is Goodwin Miniatures.

Larry grew up near Burns. He worked with his father, Ron Goodwin, who we previously profiled years ago. Ron produced a line of smokers for cooking meat.

“I learned the skill of welding from my dad,” Larry said. While in high school, he attended tech school in Emporia. Larry opened his own welding shop in Burns and did the manufacturing of the smokers that his father was selling.

In 2006, Ron retired and sold the smoker line. Larry’s business is now known as Goodwin Industries.

Goodwin Industries produces several products in addition to doing custom metal work. They now build another model of the family smoker. The company makes a corn header sweep to go on a combine to help with corn harvest. “We do custom work for individuals and other companies,” Larry said.

Continue reading “Larry Goodwin, Goodwin Industries” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Casey Cagle, Prairie Earth Tours

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

The young man was feeling homesick. He was browsing through a used bookstore in Georgia when he came across a book about his home area in the Flint Hills of Kansas.  The book gave him a lift. Years later, he would create his own tour company to share the beauty of the Flint Hills with others.

Casey Cagle is the founder and owner of Prairie Earth Tours in Emporia. He grew up on a farm near the rural community of Oswego, population 1,829 people. Now, that’s rural.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: William Allen White, Part 2

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Four statues stand in the rotunda of the Kansas Capitol. They honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sen. and Gov. Arthur Capper, aviator Amelia Earhart, and country newspaper editor William Allen White. White was one of the most famous newspaper editors of his day. He was nationally influential while publishing the daily newspaper in his small town in rural Kansas. His legacy continues through the years.

A statue of famed Emporia Gazette newspaper editor William Allen White is one of only four on display in the Kansas Capitol building rotunda.

Last week we learned about Red Rocks, the William Allen White home which is now a state historic site in Emporia. At Red Rocks through the years, William Allen White and his wife Sallie hosted many visitors, including several presidents and thought leaders from across the nation.

One of those was Edna Ferber, the most successful female novelist in the first half of the twentieth century. She wrote:  “…there is no ocean trip, no month in the country, no known drug equal to the reviving quality of twenty-four hours spent on the front porch or in the sitting room of the Whites’ house in Emporia…”

White was a gifted and articulate writer. He wrote 22 books. His newspaper editorials through the years dealt with topics ranging from national policy to his favorite recipes.  His 1896 editorial, “What’s the Matter with Kansas,” first brought him national fame. This editorial led to him meeting and becoming a longtime friend of Teddy Roosevelt. In later years, White came to embrace Roosevelt’s progressive policies within the Republican party.

Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: William Allen White, Part 2” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: William Allen White, Part 1

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Guess who’s coming to dinner? A Hollywood movie star, a best-selling author, or maybe even the President of the United States. These were the remarkable types of visitors who came to call on rural Kansas newspaper editor William Allen White.

Red Rocks, the home of William Allen White in Emporia, Kansas, is celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth in 2018.

In 2018, White’s home in Emporia is celebrating 150 years since the birth of this amazing Kansan.

William Allen White was born in 1868 in Emporia. Roger Heineken and Kathie Buckman, volunteers with the William Allen White Community Partnership, shared the story of his home and his life.

White grew up in the rural community of El Dorado, with a population at the time of 3,466 people. Now, that’s rural. He attended the College of Emporia and the University of Kansas.

Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: William Allen White, Part 1” →