Dee Dowis, whose mastery of Air Force’s option offense made him a Heisman Trophy finalist, died early Monday morning in a traffic accident near Atlanta.
The Gwinnett County Police department confirmed the death of Dowis, 48, with The Gazette early Tuesday morning. The accident occurred on Interstate 85 in north Gwinnett County at around 5 a.m.
“I don’t have adequate words to describe what a personal loss this is for me,” former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said from his South Carolina home Monday night. “Itap a sad day for Falcon football. I’m sure so many people who enjoyed watching him play feel as empty as I do today.”
Dowis arrived at Air Force as a lightly recruited 5-foot-10, 150-pound quarterback in 1986, but became the starter in DeBerry’s offense as a sophomore and began setting records immediately. He remains Air Force’s all-time leading rusher with 3,612 yards. He left college football with the rushing mark for a quarterback that held for 12 years until it was broken by Indiana’s Antwaan Randle El. His sixth-place finish in the 1989 Heisman Trophy vote after he became the fifth player in NCAA history to rush and pass for 1,000 yards in a season was the best in Falcons history and made him one of three service academy players to place that high since Navy’s Roger Staubach won the trophy in 1963.
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