“This guy walks up and says, ‘I’m gonna marry you one day,’ ” she said. “I laughed, but I could feel my face turning red. I didn’t know what to say.”
Turns out she knew just what to say — she eventually said “yes.”
She and P.K. Sam — then a Cincinnati Bengal, before that a New England Patriot with a Super Bowl ring, now a Toronto Argonauts receiver — married two years after they met and now have Trey, a 9-month-old son, to go with Nicole’s 7-year-old daughter, Brooklynn.
Now 28 and working at LexisNexis, Nicole still holds her own on the court: “Every summer P.K. and I play H-O-R-S-E and I think he’s only beaten me once. Even when I was pregnant. ... I beat him.”
In her words
"P.K. calls every morning to tell Brooklynn to have a good day in school. Every night he calls her before bed. He even flew in just to see her play soccer. He's taught her to tie her shoes and ride a bike without training wheels. He's a great dad to her.
"I help coach my daughter's (Bellbrook) soccer team. With little girls, you might have some out there picking flowers, some complaining they want to take their undershirts off because they're hot and others just singing and dancing and doing cartwheels.
"We let the girls pick their own name. They decided on Green Leprechauns because their jerseys are green. We were like, 'Are you kidding me?' I wanted Gators so they could do that Gator Chomp, but the girls thought that was lame.
"I coached at Urbana two seasons (and one with the IBL's Dayton Jets). ... I was hoping to work with the UD women's team and I talked with Jim Jabir — he's an awesome guy — but the NCAA has restrictions on volunteers, so I'll just watch them some and then spend more time with my kids — which I love doing.
"Brooklynn and I played this game called Jenga the other day. Each time you remove a block you have to answer a question. One of hers was 'Who's your favorite athlete?' I thought she'd name someone from TV, but she said me. I was like 'awww.' It was the cutest thing. Trey's just interested in playing with his toes.
"P.K. and I thought of starting a reality show that would show the other side of pro athletes — not the guys with big contracts and Bentleys and three homes. ... People similar to us who have to struggle to make it just like everybody else.
"At first P.K. wanted nothing to do with Ohio. He's from Georgia and thinks they have the best football, everything. But two weeks ago, I took him to see Beavercreek play Fairborn and he actually was pretty impressed. ... I think Ohio is growing on him."
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