Feb. 14, 2012
Subscribe to the Commodore Nation | FEBRUARY
by Ashley Crosby
 |
| Ian and Paige (Roberts) Gaines |
One day in November of 1987, Dana Turner got a phone call from her boyfriend, Steve Reece, asking if he could come visit her on the 11th–a Wednesday–from Atlanta.
“I discouraged it because I was so busy at work and couldn’t take any time off,” she remembered. “But he insisted, and I definitely wanted to see him.”
What she didn’t know was that Steve had already worked out a special surprise with her roommate, fellow Vanderbilt graduate Colleen (Desch) Friddell.
Dana and Steve had been dating for five years, since the two Commodore basketball stars met at a street band party.
 |
| Steve and Dana (Turner) Reece |
“Depending on which one of us you ask, he either pursued me or I pursued him. It’s probably accurate to say it was both,” she laughed.
Whichever way you look at it, the two had their first date in October of 1983, taking in a Vanderbilt football game, dinner, and Tom Cruise’s “All the Right Moves.”
“We spent the whole day together, and it was so much fun,” Dana said. “Our schedules were quite hectic with all the traveling we both did for basketball, so I remember how much fun it was to see him after a long road trip. We loved to hang out with our friends and go out to eat. Steve loves my mother’s cooking, and she loves to feed him, so he frequently suggested we `go visit my parents.'”
Fast-forward four years to November 11th.
“I walked into an apartment with rose petals leading to a beautiful, candlelit table with more roses and a delicious steak dinner he had prepared himself,” Dana said. “It was amazing and romantic. He asked me to marry him down on one knee, to which I said, `Yes!'”
The rest, as they say, is history, as the couple married on May 21 of the next year. Now, their older daughter is a freshman at Samford University, playing forward on the Bulldogs’ basketball team, while their younger daughter plays volleyball for her high school team.
“Our main role today is to sit in the bleachers and cheer,” Dana said.
The Reeces aren’t the only former Vanderbilt athletes to marry their sweethearts from their years on the fields and in the classrooms in Nashville. The list is quite extensive.
 |
| Jeremy and Ashley (Duffy) Sowers |
A few recent highlights include: Anna Carr, a track athlete, married football player Jared Hawkins; baseball star Jeremy Sowers and soccer player Ashley Duffy married in 2007; Bobby Reynolds and Josie Hahn, tennis and track athletes, have been married for three years; football alumnus Ian Gaines recently wed runner Paige Roberts; and Chuck and Lauren (Price) Losey, football and track graduates, have remained in Nashville since marrying.
Ashley Sowers remembers meeting her now-husband, Jeremy, in January of 2003. “We were set up by two former teammates at a dinner one night. We sat next to each other, and just ended up getting along really well.”
Their first real date came when Jeremy brought her to the baseball team’s annual banquet.
“Married life is a lot of fun, and it’s nice to have an athletic partner to play and watch sports together,” said Ashley, also making note that the couple loves going to the Pancake Pantry–their favorite food stop in Nashville.
Ashley and Jeremy got engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2006, right before Jeremy left for spring training with the Cleveland Indians. Five years later, the two welcomed their first daughter, Brooklyn Sowers, into their budding family.
Lauren and Chuck Losey found their way together in Nashville, where Chuck now is a strength coach for the football team–a program for which he played from 1998 to 2001.
 |
| Chuck and Lauren (Price) Losey |
“We were friends for two years before we started dating,” said Lauren. The two met in class their freshman year before they decided to take the first step towards dating. “Chuck took me to Longhorn Steakhouse. I thought it was a funny first date, but Chuck wanted to make sure I wasn’t stuck up and really liked him for who he was.”
Chuck’s take is a little different. “I guess you could say it was a test of sorts. Or maybe I just liked Longhorn?”
The couple’s path to married life had its own bump in the road, as the two split after graduation and Lauren moved to Denver. But life has its way of bringing people back together.
“We had been broken up for almost a year after college,” Chuck remembered. “I was still living in Nashville when she came into town for homecoming and we saw each other at Tin Roof. After that, I knew we’d get married.”
Which they did, right on campus.
“Being able to get married in the chapel on Vanderbilt’s campus, it was very special for us to be married where we first met,” said Lauren.
Then there was Josie Hahn and Bobby Reynolds, who met a week into Josie’s freshman year. It wasn’t until the end of the spring semester that year.
“Our first date came about because of a very funny situation,” said Josie. “The end of spring semester 2002 was the end of my freshman year and the end of Bobby’s sophomore year. We both had successful seasons in our sports and were training to go to national competitions that summer. We also were both the only athletes from our teams who were still on campus and were asked to change into the Maymester dorms for the month of May.
 |
| Bobby and Josie (Hahn) Reynolds |
“We had run into each other a few times in the training room and knew that no one else from our teams were around, so one night Bobby asked me to dinner. I thought we were just going to McDonald’s or some fast food joint to kill some time but he ended up suggesting we go to Houston’s for a nice dinner. And yes… he paid.”
After graduating, the couple toured around the world for Bobby’s tennis tournaments. The two were engaged in 2006 when, while on vacation with family in Mexico, Bobby and Josie went on a walk before dinner. Climbing into a lifeguard tower to listen to the waves, Bobby proposed.
“Married life is better than we could have imagined,” said Josie. “I’m sure that our marriage is a little different than couples who work and live in the same city. Bobby travels 30 weeks out of the year for tennis tournaments. But just like any marriage, the key to success is communication. Whether its cross country on the phone or across the globe on Skype, we make sure to talk every day, if possible, and share as much of our lives as we can with each other.”
For all the couples, the sentiment was the same, whether they were going on two years or 20 years of marriage–they all felt lucky to have their spouses.
“I married my best friend; the most kind, loving, hard-working, wonderful person I know. And he is still romantic,” said Dana. “I think a successful marriage is one in which you have absolutely no doubt in your mind that you’ll face all the bumps in the road together.”