University Service Citation Award Recipients Michael Kennedy Law

With no hesitation, Michael Kennedy Law (BSB 81-Business Administration) believes childhood days spent watching the Hornets play football and basketball is where his affection for Emporia State University began. For him, black and gold sports mattered from day one. “It was a big tie-in for my life growing up,” he said.

Now retired after a successful career as a nationally renowned radio personality and executive, Law remains a decorated ESU alumni and constant figure at campus events and Hornet games. Through volunteerism, board memberships and previously serving as the Hornets’ radio play-by-play announcer, there’s little the Emporia native hasn’t done for the university since earning his degree more than four decades ago. Nevertheless, receiving a University Service Citation has added to his career achievements.

“Honestly, I was quite surprised,” he said of the citation. “I certainty thought there were better candidates than me out there. I’m humbled and honored.”

Despite a busy radio career that led to enshrinement in both the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Country Radio Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Law has found time to serve his alma mater as a supporter of the President’s Club, and through service on the ESU Foundation Board of Trustees and the School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. In 2016, ESU honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Award.

Additionally, Law and his wife, Nycki Law, established a fund in 2020 that provides scholarship assistance to student-athletes with financial needs.

For Law, the symbiotic relationship between the university and the City of Emporia makes it all the more important that ESU alumni support their alma mater. As ESU goes, so, too, does the city.

“When I think Emporia, I think Emporia State,” he said. “The university is a huge economic part of the city. The success of the town is certainly of interest to me, and ESU is a huge part of the community. It’s a connection of all the parts.”

For Law, his support of Emporia State University and the community is a way of honoring the faculty and administrators who empowered him to become who he is today. He credits them with creating the foundation he used to build a career in which he became a national radio figure. Giving back is a splendid way to empower the next generation of Hornets to create their own similar success stories.

“It’s not just “ESU.” That’s the letterhead,” he said. “It’s more about the people at ESU who helped me along the way. Those people could have been anywhere, but they were at ESU, and they were a huge asset to me and a benefit to my learning.”