Tech's Reis living 'surreal' life as Super Bowl hero

By Ken Sugiura

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monday morning, the ball that Chris Reis had clutched so tightly to his body and wouldn’t have surrendered for anything was gone.

The night before, Reis, the New Orleans safety from Roswell High School and Georgia Tech, became a part of Super Bowl history when he recovered the third-quarter onside kick that triggered the Saints' comeback in their 31-17 upset of Indianapolis. He gave the ball to an equipment manager for safekeeping and Monday, he came looking for it.

Reis was told that NFL officials had already taken it for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"I'll probably never be in the NFL Hall of Fame, but I can show my kids something that's in there from me," Reis said by phone from New Orleans. "That's an honor. It's pretty humbling."

Reis, who came into the league in 2006 as an undrafted rookie, has been absorbing the post-Super Bowl glow. He clicked on ESPN and saw the replays and analysis of his recovery. When the Saints returned to New Orleans, thousands of Saints fans lined the streets as the team left the airport.

"It felt like kind of the natural thing. It felt like every other game," Reis said. "I didn't realize how great of a magnitude it can have. Looking back, it makes me nervous. Wow, what if I didn't get the ball?"

Reis actually wasn't supposed to recover the kick. He was a self-described "second-tier guy" who was supposed to be ready if the ball popped loose, as it did. Reis said he tried to catch it in the air, but it slipped out of his grasp and slid down his leg.

"I almost lost it, but I trapped it against the side of my leg," he said. "That's when everybody jumped on me."

Reis was able to get his other hand on the ball, pulled it to his stomach and balled up in a fetal position. In the pile, he said Colts players tried to pull back his fingers and hands and rip out the ball. He said "it felt like it lasted forever" for officials to sort out the scrum.

"I was trying to hold on for dear life," he said. "I knew I was going to come out with the ball. They were going to have to break my fingers or do something pretty dirty to get it and even if they did that, I was going to come out with the ball."

Reis' career has been fueled by such determination.

"There's a common thread that ran through he and Jermaine," said former Roswell coach Tim McFarlin, who also coached Tampa Bay's Jermaine Phillips, another a Super Bowl champion. "Both of those guys were extremely hard workers."

Reis was not heavily recruited by Division I-A schools before accepting a scholarship offer from Georgia Tech. Those who froth over recruiting rankings might note that Scout.com, a recruiting service, gave him all of one star.

He went undrafted after a solid career at Tech, was signed by the Falcons in 2006 as an undrafted free agent but was cut in training camp.

"It was a tough thing," Reis said. "I didn't know if I was ever going to play football again, knowing I was good enough to play in the NFL."

He was set to return to Tech to finish his management degree when the Saints called. They wanted to sign him to play in NFL Europe. After a summer as a Cologne Centurion, Reis in 2007 went to training camp with the Saints, was assigned to the practice squad and eventually was signed to the active roster.

But even after three seasons with the Saints, he said he sees himself as a "bubble" player whose roster spot is tenuous.

"I don't think there's any security for me," he said. "I'm OK with that."

Reis hopes he can progress from being a special-teams player into a defensive regular. But for now, being a Super Bowl champion is enough.

"I think right now, it's so surreal," he said. "I feel like it's almost a dream I don't even want to wake up from."