“The Legend”

John Corso, alias “The Legend” and “Gunny”, NFSA Director of Training & Education, has taken a new role with NFSA. John Corso voluntarily resigned from NFSA to help with our recession cost cutting efforts – effective May 1, 2020.  We all knew this day would come, no matter how much we all protested and begged. John will continue to teach for NFSA on a limited contract basis.

Journey’s with John by Lorrell Bush – Florida & Puerto Rico

John Corso was born for the classroom. He will admit he really does not like talking one on one with people, but he loves teaching. And students love him. There are not many instructors who can call out and embarrass students and have the same students leave the class thanking him! Nearly every class John teaches is followed by emails of praise from his students. John has a long resume: a Marine, a Fire Chief, a Regional Manager, a Trainer, and a Director of Training. But the thing that I find most impressive about him, is that he is a genuinely nice person. I have had the privilege of traveling with John. During our travels, I have seen John stay late to help students prepare for exams, even after traveling all week and teaching all day.  And, never once have we gone into a restaurant where there were soldiers or police officers that he did not secretly pick up the tab. We are so honored to have worked with John so often here in Florida.

So even though John is taking on a new role with NFSA, we in Florida have not seen the last of him. Watch for classes coming in July and sign up to see the one and only Legend, Mr. John Corso, in his element in front of a classroom teaching sprinkler guys.

Journey’s with John by Cindy Giedraitis – South Central Area

For 8 years, I have had the awesome privilege of traveling, and hosting trainings, with John Corso on many road trips throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas! In retrospect, I know that John traveled and worked in my region with me more than any other NFSA co-worker.

John served NFSA members and all those in the fire protection industry for over 20 years. He has traveled countless miles and visited every state in our country, which is “legendary.” John told many of us that he traveled over 200 days a year. John read and memorized every NFPA Fire Sprinkler Standard and every Expert of the Day Technical Code Interpretation by the NFSA Engineering & Codes subject matter experts, and that made John an expert teacher.

The most experienced NFSA Regional Managers knew that they needed to grab/schedule John as soon as the training schedule opened. If you had the honor of taking a NFSA Training Class taught by John Corso, you came out knowing that you were doing the right job for the right reasons and you were much more knowledgeable in how to do your job. Many times, you came out laughing and you always knew that you had a friend and expert that you could call if you ever had a fire protection question.

Journey’s with John by Ron Ritchey – Great Lakes Area

It has been a personal highlight of my career to have had the honor of observing and learning from John over the past four years. John has been kind enough to allow me to job shadow him and spend countless hours, with notebook in hand taking notes, in my attempts to understand how he has truly mastered his craft. I will share some of the things I have learned from John that is worthy of emulation and illustrates some of the secrets to his success.

It begins and end with the students. John truly wants others to be successful and he sincerely cares about those who attend his class with a true desire to learn, and they can sense it. John believes that training should be fun, both for the instructor and for the student. John’s quick wit and humor endears him to the students and they to him. While simultaneously providing a relaxed atmosphere that facilitates learning, John has a gift to take complex technical subjects and describe them in a simple way, oftentimes using analogy to do so. Simple is not easy by the way, in fact, it is one of the distinguishing characteristics that sets John apart from his colleagues. Which leads me to my final observation. John’s preparation is intense and all-encompassing. Most people do not realize the time and effort that John has put forth in mastering his craft, but his commitment to excellence demands that he do so.

Thank you for everything, John! You have made a difference in the lives of many, and your influence will continue on…

Please send best wishes to John here.