FROM BOY TO MAN: How one New Orleans Saint has impacted the life of one Destin resident

This Sunday, Destin resident Dennis Dumler will be watching the Super Bowl and cheering as hard for the Saints as any member of “The Who Dat” nation.

Dumler’s cheers do not come from a certain kinship with the city or the team, but from a special relationship with a member of the team.

Chris Reis has played in 29 games for the Saints in the last three seasons and is described by the team as a “valuable performer.” But Dumler’s impression of Reis was formed long before he was making plays as a special teamer in the Superdome.

Reis was still in elementary school when he began playing sports in Roswell, Ga., with Dumler’s son, Paul.

“He is the best athlete I have ever seen in my life,” said Dumler. “He could do it all. He was head and shoulders above every other athlete in every sport he played.”

Dumler probably has a more accurate gauge of athletic ability than most football parents. He spent 30 years as a sportscaster in the Atlanta area, working for networks such as CNN.

“It’s not only his athletic ability that makes Chris stand out,” said Dumler. “He was also always the most polite young man.”

Reis’ 4.0 GPA and excellence in football earned a scholarship to Georgia Tech, where he was repeatedly awarded ACC All-Academic honors and an All-ACC Honorable Mention for his play on the field.

But Reis’ most significant moment in the life of the Dumler family came during Chris and Paul’s senior year at Roswell High School when Paul’s mother, Dennis’ wife, past away.

As a teammate and friend, Reis gathered the entire football team and other members of the community to show support.

“The whole sentimentality of it is almost too much,” said Dumler. “It is a marvelous opportunity to watch Chris play in the Super Bowl.”

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