November 2016

Question:

Dear Abbot Pennings,

I wonder if you remember the Green Hornet?

Kim Pierce ’76

Answer:

Dearest Kim,

I do indeed, Kim! And if I am not mistaken, it was you yourself who used to take the wheel of this venerable old bus when you worked with our athletes as a student trainer. 

Yours is a question that prompts many fond memories, and will certainly elicit some affectionate laughter among our football alumni of the Hornet’s era. No-one who rode the old rattletrap or knew it by its nickname will ever forget the experience, I am sure. Well, we managed with what we could procure and, all told, the Hornet served us well in its day. 

Owned by the Norbertines, the Green Hornet first became a familiar sight on campus as the bus that used to transport Abbot Pennings High School sports teams to their away-game destinations back in the early 1970s. (Dear me, is it really as long ago as 2011 that I last wrote about our dear high school?)

After many a trip, the Green Hornet headed into “retirement” mode and its last lease of life came in the mid-70s, when Coach Mel Nicks used the aging bus as a means to transport his football team across the river to practice. (In that era, of course, the team played at Minahan Stadium, which was home to the team at that era and for decades more until the completion of our wonderful new Donald J. Schneider Stadium in 2010.) Of course, by that stage the bus was far into its dotage and its condition gave rise to much complaining seasoned with many humorous remarks

Thank you again for reminding us of this piece of the college’s transportation history!

Responses to “Ask the Abbot” questions are penned by St. Norbert College staff in the name of Abbot Bernard Pennings, O.Praem., who founded St. Norbert College in 1898.