The first time Miles Hutcherson met Dwight “Doc” Reel II, he walked right up to him and said, “Nice to meet you. I’m Doc, like doctor.”
“I couldn’t help but laugh at his goofy introduction, and an hour later I felt like I had known him my whole life,” Hutcherson said of Reel, his friend and fraternity brother.
Reel, a University of Alabama student, was driving his pickup truck on Kicker Road around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning when he crashed into a tree. He was transported to DCH Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead there by a physician, EMS Chief Travis Parker said.
“Doc was someone who could always put you in a good mood,” Hutcherson said. “Anyone who ever came in contact with him knows that.”
Hutcherson said Reel could make anyone’s day better.
“From his quick wit to his dog named Cat, he always had a way to make his friends laugh,” Hutcherson said.
Reel, the son of Craig and Aundrea Reel, was from Southlake, Texas. He was a sophomore majoring in advertising.
“He liked to hunt, fish and go out and have a good time,” Josh Fleitas, Reel’s best friend, roommate and fraternity brother, said.
Fleitas said his fondest memory of Reel was when Reel wanted to be the first person to tell him happy birthday.
“He broke into my room to tell me happy birthday, jumped in my bed and then fell off the end of the bed,” Fleitas said.
Reel played football in high school, and he liked to fish on his boat that he kept in Tuscaloosa. Reel was also an active member of Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity.
David Dooley, president of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity, said Reel was the light of the room when he walked in.
“Every time I saw Doc, he had the biggest smile on his face that would make even the worst days better,” Dooley said.
Dooley said Reel was the fraternity jokester.
“He always found a way to lighten the mood in the room,” Dooley said. “He often said, ‘don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all the small stuff.’”
Dooley said not only did the fraternity of Alpha Kappa Lambda lose someone special, but the whole University lost a great friend with the death of Doc Reel.
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