From left, Coaches Matt Williamson and Derek Games with Elizabeth and Michael D. Funka, parents of the late Michael W. Funka, and Corey Verkouteren, recipient of the first Michael W. Funka Award. (Photo Provided)

MARIETTA — Marietta College’s esports team ended its season this month with two teams competing in their divisional national tournaments in the National Esports Collegiate Conference.

Earlier this year in the conference, the Fortnite team qualified for the championship, finishing eighth in the U.S.

During the first week of May, all six esports teams celebrated the relatively new program’s success.The Marietta College program first competed as a recognized sport in 2021.

At the May awards ceremony, success and sadness mixed as a new award was introduced to honor a founding member. The first Michael W. Funka Award was presented to Corey Verkouteren.

Funka, who said he “found his people” when he joined esports, passed away in February. Funka was “electrically positive, persevering through countless hardships, and always doing so with the biggest smile on his face,” Coach Derek Games said.

Funka was “one of the most jovial, positive and caring individuals I have come across in my 31 years on this planet,” Games said. He “extended to everyone the Golden Rule of treating others the way he would want to be treated.”

To memorialize the esports program Pioneer, Funka’s jersey was framed and will be hung in the esports arena as a reminder of the “positivity and perseverance” that he exhibited. His parents, Michael D. and Elizabeth Funka, came from West Alexander, Pa., to attend the ceremony.

Marietta College is among many colleges and universities that have added an esports team to their athletics portfolio as the esports industry continues to grow worldwide. U.S. revenues in 2025 are expected to reach nearly $650 million.

More than 500 colleges in North America, including Marietta, offer esports scholarships, signaling the mainstreaming of competitive gaming within academia.

In acknowledgement of the accelerating popularity and the demand for additional management of esports’ events, Marietta College recently added a new esports management track as an option in the sports management major. The new program track began accepting applications in April.

The Marietta College esports teams include the Valorant team that finished 11-6 for the year and third in the conference, the Super Smash Bros. team, the Rocket League team, the Rainbow Six: Siege team that played in the quarterfinals of the divisional national tournament and finished 8-8 on the season, the Overwatch team that lost in the final fight of the quarterfinal round of the divisional national tournament and finished the season 12-7 and Fortnite. Fortnite earned a high-level national finish.

The overall record among all the teams was 32-33, which is the best in program history.