Calling for love
Erin Quilty, BSC '05, and Dennis McGee, BSC '02

By Erin Quilty

It was the type of cool, cloudy Athens afternoon that would have best been spent watching a movie with my sorority sisters. Instead I reluctantly agreed to work an extra Monday shift at the OU Phonathon.

Meanwhile in Washington, Pa., Denny McGee, a 2002 graduate, relished in the fact that his evening work meeting was unexpectedly cancelled. As fate would have it, these unforeseen changes in our evening schedules were the reason our paths crossed on that memorable March evening.

My Phonathon shift dragged on, and the name Dennis McGee popped up on my screen as the next alumni to call. Little did I know this name belonged to the man with whom I would one day grow old.

As I heard the phone ringing in my headpiece, I prepared for another conversation. "Hi Dennis, I'm Erin, a junior at Ohio University," I said. Denny's deep voice was full of enthusiasm as he talked about his time at OU. We immediately clicked, and the conversation flowed easily.

Although Denny was reluctant to donate, he was not shy to ask if he would ever talk to me again. I felt my heart beating in my throat when Denny asked if we could meet during his upcoming trip to Athens for baseball alumni weekend, but I politely declined. I knew immediately that I made a mistake turning down an opportunity to meet him, so I wrote down his number.

As I told my friends all about this amazing conversation, I was glowing. I could not explain the connection I felt with Denny, but I knew we both had found something special.

I could not stop thinking about Denny, so I turned to my favorite college research tool, Google.com. I found all of his OU baseball stats and also the Kalamazoo Kings Web site, which is Denny’s former independent minor-league baseball team. When I saw his charming smile, I knew I had to call him again.

It took me three days and a workout at Ping to finally get the nerve to call my alumni crush. As soon as I heard his voice on the other end of the line, I knew I had made the right decision. "Erin?" Denny asked. "Phonathon Erin?!? I was hoping to hear from you!" We talked another two hours that night and every night thereafter.

When Denny came to OU two months later for alumni baseball weekend, we were inseparable, and he continued to visit me almost every weekend until I graduated in June of 2005.

After two-and-a-half years of our long-distance relationship, I recently moved to Buffalo, N.Y., and we are finally together! Denny is a sales representative for R.J. Reynolds, and I am a sales manager at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Buffalo. We plan to someday get married on the campus of Ohio University.

Editor's Note: Erin and Denny are engaged and have set a wedding date of Aug. 16, 2008, at Ohio University. The wedding party will consist of 10 former Bobcats. Congratulations!

Read the contest's other finalist:
The Jefferson Hall milkman