Who’s who at EMU

Way back before any of you were born (1977), there were two young men from Kalona, Iowa who loaded up their things in a dark blue Pinto and made their way out east to Virginia and what was then EMC. One was me, Darrell E. Yoder, and the other was my good friend and buddy, Dwight Gingerich.

We first met in third grade and spent so much time together that people often got us mixed up. That continued at EMC. Another freshman named Thomas Jenkins constantly got us confused. It didn't seem to matter that I wore glasses and never made it to six feet, and Dwight didn't wear glasses and was somewhat over six feet one inch. TJ always mixed us up.

One day in the cafeteria line he was all excited since he was sure he finally had it right. "I've got it now, Dwight!" he told me. "You are the one that wears glasses." I agreed that I did indeed wear glasses, but I disagreed that I was Dwight since I was really Darrell. Poor TJ thought I really was Dwight and was just acting like I was Darrell in order to mix him up, and was about ready to pound me into something like submission to prove he was right when we finally got to the food line.

Anyway, it was with some pleasure that I saw in the recent story "Old Mascot Faces New Competition" that our names are still being mixed up. Dwight Gingerich went on to fame as the basketball coach at Iowa Mennonite High School. I, Darrell E. Yoder, went off to be an elementary teacher in Lancaster, PA.

Way back then I used the check that I got for winning the mascot contest to purchase an old bentwood rocking chair that had belonged to my grandfather John Miller. The chair is sitting across from me in my living room as I type here in Lancaster, PA.

Poor Les Helmuth almost killed himself the first time he wore the costume. I think it was the last game of the year, and he wanted to get the new mascot costume into circulation even though the fiberglass on the inside of the head wasn't completely aired out. Along with sweating profusely by half time, he was ready to pass out from the fumes.

I do enjoy reading your work each week or so when it comes in the mail or is posted on the web.