For many a Cornellian, the greatest solace to be found in summer’s end is the approach of hockey season. But this year, some Lynah Faithful worried less about how the team would do than whether “Zamboni Dave” would ride again.
For two decades, Dave Nulle has livened up the rink with the elaborate costumes he wears while resurfacing the ice between periods. When he retired after the 2008-09 school year, fans worried it was the end of a beloved Big Red tradition. But fear not: Zamboni Dave is back, driving the resurfacer—complete with eighty-four-inch-blade—as a volunteer.
Despite the nickname, Nulle actually drives an Olympia; Lynah retired its Zamboni in 1982 when replacement parts became unavailable. And despite his flamboyant on-ice persona, Nulle describes himself as a private sort. “Dave has quietly gone about his business at the rink for many years,” says Mike Schafer ’86, head coach of the men’s team. “With his outfits, he has added to the game-night atmosphere in his own way.”
Nulle traces his family’s Cornell connections back to the Twenties, when his grandfather sold athletic equipment to teams from his Collegetown sporting goods store under the motto, “On the Hill But on the Level.” At a dance in Willard Straight Hall, Nulle’s mother, Claire Denise Couch ’32, met Richard Nulle ’33, a hockey player at a time when whole seasons could be cancelled if Beebe Lake didn’t freeze solid. Nulle was born in New York City, but when his father died in 1949 he and his mother returned to Ithaca. “I began not as a Zamboni guy, but just as a guy who moved nets around,” Nulle says. When his predecessor retired in the Eighties, Nulle and Phil Graham (now rink manager) got behind the wheel. “We already knew how,” Nulle says, “but it’s different when you drive for the big games.”
Man of 1,000 faces: Zamboni driver Dave Nulle haunts vintage shops in search of game-night costumes, which have included a Chinese emperor, a London bobby, and a Founding Father.
The daring dress-up that has made Nulle the stuff of Lynah legend began with a hat—”a sort of Russian babushka.” A student reached over and grabbed it off his head as he drove by, Nulle recalls, and “the whole rink began to shout, ‘Give it back!'” That inspired a student to ask Nulle to wear a tuxedo for the Cornell-Harvard game, infamous for its intense rivalry and flying fish. Nulle agreed, eventually amassing a collection of more than 250 hats, coats, boots, swords, and more. Lynah fans have cheered everything from Napoleon to an Egyptian pharaoh to a medieval knight.
Though some of the getups have been gifts, Nulle has bought many himself—scouring vintage and second-hand stores, Renaissance fairs, even Scottish games. “I’ve created a very sophisticated fan base,” Nulle says with a laugh. “Their demand is high.”
Last summer, Nulle was one of 423 employees who left Cornell as part of the Staff Retirement Incentive, which aimed to reduce salary costs by offering a more generous benefits package to long-term employees. But under the terms of the program, retirees can still work or volunteer for the University on a casual basis, allowing Zamboni Dave to keep his title. “It’s like being a local celebrity—people shake your hand, shout ‘Hey Dave!’ on the street, buy you a drink, want to get a photograph with you,” he says. “It’s a fun job driving that machine.”
 —Molly O’Toole ’09