Love is in the air. It's Valentine's Day. Four out of five Facebook posts today celebrate somebody's sweetheart.
 
Restaurants are teeming with couples gazing softly into each other's eyes.
 
Joining the cascade of cheerful sentiments:  Northwestern State athletics director Greg Burke, who is not limiting his arrows of joy to the heart of his lovely, longtime wife Susu.
 
Burke has Cupid-like credentials: a list of nearly four dozen former NSU student-athletes who are enjoying Valentine's Day as husband-and-wife.
 
Relationships that often began in the Johnnie Emmons Academic Study Center, or the Eugene Christmas Sports Medicine Center, have culminated in the chapel time and again.
 
It's a special point of pride for an athletic department that hangs its hat on its family atmosphere and small-town traditional American values.
 
There's a great sense of community among the nearly 400 young men and women who compete annually for NSU. Nobody decided to come to school here because of the malls and nightclubs. Again and again, those life-changing choices are rooted in a simple phrase:  "it felt like home."
 
So today, in the middle of his 19^th year as AD, Burke beams thinking about the new families that have started during his time in charge, or even during his six years as assistant AD from 1986-92. This is a man who meets virtually every recruit, in every sport, unless he's out of town when they're on campus. Once the new Demons and Lady Demons arrive, he expands (or begins) his personal relationships with them: who they are, what they hope to become, how they're going about their NSU academic and athletic journey.
 
He has a list, and he knows it's not complete. Burke would love – absolutely, that's the right word to use – additions to his roster of married couples who met as NSU student-athletes.
 
For today, let's send special Valentine's Day arrows to:
 
Carl (baseball) and Chelsea Smith (volleyball) Makowsky
 
Brian (baseball) and Crista Miller (softball) Hobbs
 
Glenn (football) and Janice Miller (track and field) Moore
 
Dickie (baseball) and Valerie Salter (softball) Marze
 
Kenta (track and field) and Lakeisha Henderson (track and field) Bell
 
Randy (football) and Robin Gatto (softball) Bullock
 
Mark (football) and Amanda Glenn (softball) Peters
 
Latrell (track and field) and Tamesha Miller (track and field) Frederick
 
Logan (basketball) and Lyndzee Greene (basketball) McConathy
 
Phillip (baseball) and Lyndsey Gorski (softball) Miller
 
Chad (track and field) and Megan Dockery (volleyball) Leath
 
Chris (basketball) and Erin Palomarez (softball) Thompson
 
Tim (track and field) and Ruth Munoz (track and field) Rosas
 
Kelsey (baseball) and Jacque Lawrence (soccer) Tomyn
 
Josh (basketball) and Dorothy Knox (basketball) Hancock

William (football) and Kendra Peters (volleyball) Broussard

Jeremy (football) and Linzie Ledford (track and field) Hebert
 
Loren (track and field) and Angel Villa (track and field) Martin
 
William (track and field) and Danielle Moss (track and field) Budro
 
Daniel (football) and Marliese Latiolais (soccer) Lottinger
 
Ravyn (track and field) and Jessica Tuck (track and field) Hayward

Denney (baseball) and Cary Bruno (softball) Choate

Jason (track and field) and Christina Stone (volleyball) Champagne

Billy Ray (baseball) and Brittany Hung (soccer) Rutledge

Reaching back before Greg's time, to include a great couple who has gotten to know him as their alma mater's AD:

Kerry (baseball) and Karla Thomas (basketball) Keowen
 
And an especially poignant mention of a beautiful couple whose time together was cut painfully short:
 
The late Ricky (football) and Akilah Givens (women's basketball) Issac.
 
Love just doesn't get better than that.