{"id":34662,"date":"2024-11-04T10:09:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=34662"},"modified":"2024-11-14T11:02:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T16:02:05","slug":"after-the-aisle-playing-for-keeps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/after-the-aisle-playing-for-keeps\/","title":{"rendered":"After the Aisle: Playing for Keeps"},"content":{"rendered":"

They were Furman students at the same time, and both were athletes.\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0Two decades later, Natalie The \u201903 and Matt Davidson \u201904are not only still together, they both work at Furman \u2013 Davidson as head coach of the men\u2019s golf team and The as professor and chair of health sciences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hit it off right from the start,\u201d says Davidson. \u201cWe are a very good match.\u201d<\/p>\n

A native of Florida, The was recruited to play collegiate tennis at Furman, while Davidson, who grew up in New Jersey, came to play golf.<\/p>\n

They knew of one another because, as athletes, they traveled in the same circles, Davidson says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the first time I spoke to him was at a Furman Paladin Club event,\u201d The says. \u201cI was asked to give a talk \u2026 and he came up to me and we talked briefly.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until the spring of 2003, however, that they really connected after going out with each other\u2019s roommates, she recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked his roommate to a sorority function as my date, and my roommate asked (Davidson) to the same function as her date,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A month later, Davidson asked The to a fraternity function, and they\u2019ve been together ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did have a connection right off the bat,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of the things that struck us both is the ease of conversation \u2013 and real conversation,\u00a0 immediately. Not small talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the first day, our conversation went really well,\u201d adds Davidson. \u201cOur personalities just matched really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

A health and exercise science major, The graduated in 2003 before earning her master\u2019s degree in public health and epidemiology from Emory University and her Ph.D. in nutrition epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

She was deciding between a career in public health or teaching when she applied to Furman and got the job in the health sciences department.<\/p>\n

Davidson, who redshirted for a year, played golf professionally from 2005 until 2017, spending a year on the PGA Tour and most of his career on the Korn Ferry Tour. He was then named assistant men\u2019s golf coach, before becoming head coach when his predecessor left.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing couldn\u2019t have been better,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m now in my sixth season at Furman.\u201d<\/p>\n

On New Year\u2019s Eve 2009, The recalls, Davidson planned a nice dinner, got down on one knee and proposed. They married the following year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of suspected it,\u201d she says. \u201cWe always had conversations about the future, and in those conversations, we were both a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They now have two young sons who are also active in sports.<\/p>\n

But despite working at the same university, they rarely see each other because he\u2019s on the golf course and she\u2019s in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery once in a while, we have lunch together, but it\u2019s far less common than one would imagine,\u201d The says. \u201cWe\u2019re both so busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started working here, we tried to get together for lunch once a month or so,\u201d Davidson says. \u201cBut we\u2019re at opposite ends of the campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

On weekends, they spend time as a family, attending Furman sporting events, hiking, bicycling on the Swamp Rabbit Trail or going to a park.<\/p>\n

Davidson says they got lucky when they found each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is great,\u201d he says. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t trade a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Natalie The \u201903 and Matt Davidson \u201904<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":35209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3059,3055,1963],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-class-notes-fall-2024","category-fall-2024","category-furman-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34662"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35239,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34662\/revisions\/35239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}