{"id":9990,"date":"2023-07-14T14:04:03","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T18:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=9990"},"modified":"2023-07-17T20:49:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T00:49:10","slug":"two-rams-in-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2023-cat\/two-rams-in-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Rams in Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

David Nicolato \u201998 and Cortney Nicolato \u201901 break the mascot code of silence to share their story in celebration of Rhody\u2019s 100th birthday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Nicolato \u201998 doesn\u2019t usually let on that he was once Rhody the Ram. There was a code. You were quiet in the suit, unknown out of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone in class recalled a great stunt by Rhody at last night\u2019s game\u2014maybe a slam dunk off a mini-trampoline, his signature move\u2014he was mum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"David<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven today, I don\u2019t volunteer that I was a mascot,\u201d says David, a former 溏心vlog免费B站 alumni relations staffer. \u201cIt was an outlet to have fun and be a nut without getting into trouble. It was a phenomenal experience.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t discuss it\u2014unless, maybe, it\u2019s with another Rhody. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, David is married to one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David and Cortney Nicolato \u201901 celebrated their 18th anniversary this year\u2014likely the only two 溏心vlog免费B站 mascots to tie the knot. They live in Saunderstown, R.I., with sons Jacob, 15, and Ian, 12. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c溏心vlog免费B站 is how we met. It’s the foundation of who we are,\u201d says Cortney, CEO and president of United Way of Rhode Island and a member of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Board of Trustees. \u201cIt’s where it all began.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they met in 1996, Cortney Mahoney was a \u201ccocky little thing\u201d\u2014she prefers \u201cresourceful\u201d\u2014from Pawtucket, R.I., and David was a New Jersey kid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortney, who worked full time to pay for college, was looking for a way to be connected to the University. She learned David ran the mascot program. True to the code, David wasn\u2019t admitting anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went right up to him and said, \u2018I hear you run the mascot program,\u2019\u201d remembers Cortney. \u201cHe was like, \u2018What do you mean?\u2019 I said, \u2018I know you run the program.\u2019 He finally admitted it and said, \u2018Well, you\u2019re going to have to try out.\u2019 He was kind of a jerk. I\u2019m not going to lie.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were never really any tryouts at that time,\u201d confesses David. \u201cI was just putting her through the ringer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 溏心vlog免费B站, they built camaraderie through their mascot roles and as resident assistants in Hopkins Hall. \u201cDavid used to throw out the worst pickup lines ever. Now he’s taught our children these ridiculous pickup lines,\u201d jokes Cortney. \u201cHe\u2019s still convinced that’s what wooed me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of years after college, they went on their first date, to 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Blue and White Ball. Three years later, they were engaged at the ball; they married in 2005. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several moves, they returned to Rhode Island when Cortney was hired at United Way, and one reason was to be close to campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted our kids to see what a fantastic place it is,\u201d says David, who followed an interest in fixing things to start a handyman business, My RI Handyman. \u201cThe kids can go eat Albie\u2019s cheese fries or we\u2019ll go to a Fine Arts event.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They made one of the first donations to the Rhody the Ram Endowment, which provides scholarships to students who serve as Rhody. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are forever grateful for our time as Rhody because it brought us together and we have built this beautiful life and family,\u201d Cortney says. \u201cWe are thankful that we are a small part of the history of this iconic mascot.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Tony LaRoche \u201995 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more of Cortney and David’s story, and more about Rhody, at uri.edu\/news\/rhody-centennial<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Nicolato \u201998 and Cortney Nicolato \u201901 break the mascot code of silence to share their story in celebration of Rhody\u2019s 100th birthday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":9993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summer-2023-cat","architecture-network"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9990"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10278,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9990\/revisions\/10278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}