Dowis was born and grew up in Royston, Georgia. His father, Leonard Dowis, was the Franklin County High School football coach. He died of a heart attack when Dee was four years old.
Dowis attended Franklin County High School, where he practiced multiple-sports. In football, he was a starter at quarterback in a wishbone offense and led the team to the Georgia football playoffs.
He received All-state honors at shortstop in baseball. He wasn't a highly recruited athlete because of his size.
College career
Dowis was accepted into the United States Air Force Academy. As a freshman with the Falcons in 1986, he was the third string quarterback behind James Tomallo and Troy Calhoun. He tallied 24 carries for 39 yards, one rushing touchdown, 10 of 29 attempts for 115 yards and one passing touchdown. He felt homesick and almost transferred after the season.[1]
As a sophomore in 1987, he began the season as the backup quarterback behind Steve Letnich, but when the Falcons fell behind, 20–0, in the season opener loss (27–13) against the University of Wyoming, he replaced Letnich and never looked back. He had 18 carries for 188 yards in the 49–7 win against San Diego State University. He broke his right wrist in the season finale win (34–31) against the University of Hawaii. The injury forced him to miss the team's 33–28 loss against Arizona State University in the 1987 Freedom Bowl. He set an NCAA single-season rushing mark for quarterbacks with 1,315 yards that stood for 12 years. He finished the season with 194 carries for 1,315 yards (6.8 yard avg.), 10 rushing touchdowns, 45 of 112 attempts for 600 yards, 4 passing touchdowns and 8 interceptions.
As a junior in 1988, he had 153 carries for 972 yards (6.4 yard avg.), 12 rushing touchdowns, 41 of 96 attempts for 870 yards and 7 passing touchdowns. He also tied an NCAA record after completing 11 consecutive passes against Northwestern University.
As a senior in 1989, he became the fifth player in NCAA history to run and pass for more than 1,000 yards in a single-season. He ran for 1,286 yards with 18 touchdowns and passed for 1,285 yards with 7 scores. He also set the NCAA Division I career record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 3,612 (broken by Antwaan Randle El in 2001). Against San Diego State University, he set the Western Athletic Conference record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single-game with 249 (broken by Chad Hall on October 13, 2007) and most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a single-game with 6.[2]
Dowis received an MBA from the University of West Florida in 1993. He served as a football coach on the Air Force staff in 1995.
On July 17, 1998, he was inducted into the Franklin County Sports Hall of Fame as a charter member. In 2009, he was inducted into the Air Force Academy Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was inducted into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame.[4] He was also inducted into the North Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
On August 29, 2016, he died in a traffic accident at the age of 48 after driving south in the northbound freeway lane, not wearing a seatbelt. Forensic toxicology reports confirmed that he had a blood alcohol content level of .21 at the time of the accident.[5]
