“We’ve had so much emphasis on mascots over the last four years that we’ve actually totally chopped that out of the day,” Emily Schenck stressed.
A shame perhaps, but nothing that figures to diminish the moment in Kettering, June 12, when Emily, who has portrayed University of Dayton mascot Rudy Flyer for three years, marries Sam Blaine, who for the past four years has dressed up as the Wright State University wolf, Rowdy Raider.
Both also cavort with the Green Team, which puts on skits between innings and shoots T-shirts into the crowd at Fifth Third Field during Dayton Dragons baseball games. That entire 20-member ensemble, plus a few from the past, are expected to attend the wedding, although not in their wacky work attire; Sam, for example, wears a shirt with “Aw-Sam” on the back.
“Sam and Emily have great personalities, and they’re like family,” said Kaitlin Rohrer, the Dragons’ director of entertainment.
They are also lifelong friends who remember “play dates” as kids and whose moms have known each other for 25 years after starting out in the travel business together.
“Every mother wants her kids to grow up and marry her friend’s kids,” Emily said. “It’s wonderful for friends to become family. And very natural.”
Faces of schools
Sam signs his emails “Director of Fun!” He credits heredity for the couple’s spiritedness.
“Our moms and dads are outgoing people who aren’t afraid to be the center of attention,” he said. “It just kind of translated to us.”
Voted “most spirited” (go figure) at Northmont High School, Sam insists he enrolled at WSU mainly to become Rowdy. Emily, a Wayne grad, received an academic scholarship to UD and tried out for Rudy after seeing how much fun Sam was having.
“I saw what he got to do on the court and with the kids,” Emily said. “I said I would love to do that, too. And it was wonderful.”
Each became the face of a university, although in deference to the strict mascot code, their true identities remained secret — until now.
“It’s neat to represent your school,” Sam said. “Everybody knows Rowdy and Rudy. It’s a little hot and a little sweaty in there, but it’s fun because you get to be somebody completely different.”
Not since December 1997 have the UD and WSU men’s basketball teams opposed each other, so Sam and Emily seldom crossed paths as mascots, save for the occasional community appearance. There was also the time in Cincinnati when they assembled with other area mascots on Fountain Square to herald the start of a new Cincinnati Broomball Association season.
Sam and Emily each made one NCAA tournament appearance, affording them national exposure. Emily, as Rudy, led the parade across the Stewart Street Bridge in Dayton when it re-opened in November.
“We got to do a lot of things most students don’t get to do,” Emily said. “And that’s very cool.”
Going green
Sam and Emily actually joined the Green Team while still in high school. They had just started dating.
“The tryout was similar to our college mascot tryouts,” Sam said. “They have you dance, do some goofy things. It’s kind of like auditioning for a play. They want to see your personality.”
Part of the Green Team’s function is to recruit fans for hijinks with Heater and Gem.
Last August, Sam, a communication major with an emphasis in public relations, spotted one of his instructors outside Fifth Third Field and convinced him to participate in a 1970s dance contest.
“I don’t know Emily that well, but if she’s marrying Sam, she must have a pretty good sense of humor,” noted Nick Wiget, who had won such a competition at the ballpark a few years earlier.
While donning his ’70s attire, Wiget heard Sam warn his opponent about bringing his “A” game when going up against a past champ.
“I’m proud of Sam,” said Wiget, a loser that night. “He was a good student and he’s a funny guy who enjoys hammin’ it up with people. And that’s a good thing. So many people would be hesitant to be that peppy and spirited.”
No end to the fun
Sam — who proposed to Emily on Feb. 13, 2009, at his grandfather’s cabin in northern Michigan — graduates next winter. Emily graduated in May with a degree in middle childhood education.
“I would like to represent companies and put them in the best light I can,” said Sam, who will seek a job that allows him to be at the ballpark by 5 p.m., when Green Team members start “running around like crazy kids.”
Being a teacher, Emily will have summers free, so while their college mascot days are over, there would seem no end in sight to their Green Team-ing.
“Sam and Emily always show positive leadership,” Rohrer said. “It’s obvious they love the job, the Dragons and the fans.”
Saturday’s social event of the season was planned around the Dragons’ schedule, of course.
“It just feels right,” Sam said of the pending union. “We’re so similar. It’s like we’re perfect for each other.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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