Rellergert 'gets it done,' and with lofty numbers

Danny Rellergert's athletic and academic accomplishments can be measured with some impressive numbers.

Three. That's the number of sports Rellergert plays at St. Vincent High School, and there's a good chance it's the same number of state championship events he could be involved in this year.

Twenty-seven catches for 574 yards and seven touchdowns. The total yardage, his average (21.3 yards per catch) and his receiving TDs all put the senior tight end atop the area's football statistical leaders.

A punting average of 35.7 yards per kick. In his first year of punting, Rellergert actually averaged 37.6 yards per punt on 30 kicks heading into the state title game.

4.26 GPA. The number that ranks Rellergert No. 1 in his class.

"He leads by example in the classroom," St. Vincent football coach Keith Winkler said. "He knows how to balance his time well. We ask these kids for two or three hours of time each day for football, then they go home and study, and Danny also put in time on college classes.

"You can talk to other kids about what he accomplished and talk about how hard he worked. When Danny wanted to do something, he got after it."

Rellergert's ability to balance football and academics will be honored Sunday night at the Washington University Field House, when he is one of 12 scholar athletes recognized in the St. Louis metro area by the St. Louis/Tom Lombardo chapter of The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. Each of the players will receive a $1,000 scholarship. Rellergert is the first St. Vincent football player honored in the banquet, which began in 1993.

The event will continue an admittedly dream-like senior year for Rellergert, who was the leading receiver on St. Vincent's run to the Class 1 football championship and a starter on the Class 2 state runner-up basketball team. He also plays for the golf team, which will be bidding Wednesday for a return trip to the state tournament -- this year in Class 1.

His ability to balance so many things startles even his family members.

"I am amazed, definitely," said Rellergert's mother, Kathy Dias. "We don't have to push him to do anything. If he has to do something, he gets it done, and he does a fine job at whatever he does."

Rellergert will begin his studies at the University of Missouri this fall, working toward a degree most likely in engineering. His older brother, Aaron, currently is in his second year at Missouri.

"When we were touring colleges with Aaron, I went along with him," Rellergert said. "I kind of made up my mind before he did. I chose Missouri as one of my favorites, and he wasn't sure where he was going yet."

Rellergert also intends to walk on to the Missouri football team.

"I'm going to try for punting," he said. "If I went as a tight end, I might end up on the fourth team ... and I'd have to put on about 40 pounds."

Rellergert is one punter not afraid to stick a helmet on a return man. At 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, he played defensive end -- "That was fun; I liked that," he said -- and safety in his career at St. Vincent as well.

"He has a great sense for the ball," Winkler said. "He's a big safety, and he liked to come up and stick somebody. He played two very different positions, and he did well at both of them for us."

Winkler believes Rellergert has a chance to make a contribution in college football.

"I think it will take a lot of work," Winkler said, "and he'll have to impress some people coming in as a walk-on. But he has the size, strength and ability. He just has to get the technique down where gets his drop down and gets it exactly the same every time. He's got leg strength, and he has good height on his kicks."

Rellergert also has proven he's a quick learner.

"From the get-go, from grade school, he was making A's," Dias said. "I'd never have to talk to the teachers about him."

Rellergert, who took three years of piano lessons and also plays trumpet and guitar, became enamored with science in high school. He supplemented his education at St. Vincent by taking college courses in American history and composition and rhetoric through St. Louis University.

"Sometimes it seems like you just don't have enough time with practice, but you always find time," Rellergert said.

Rellergert's balancing act also included two households. His parents are divorced and both remarried. He spends some of the week with his father, Michael Rellergert, and his stepmother, Chris, and part of the week his mother and his stepfather, Brian Dias.

"They've been divorced since I was 2," Rellergert said. "I'm used to it by now."

Added Winkler: "His parents get along real well. He adapts. He's a kid who doesn't bother with excuses. He's just a kid that makes things happen."

Rellergert made things happen on the football field by using his intelligence as well as his skills.

"His could see things on the field and help the coaches make adjustments on what they were doing to us or what we were trying to do to them," Winkler said.

Rellergert, who served as one of the captains, defers credit for his success and remains a team-first player.

"We have had good quarterbacks the last two years, and the line has given them time to throw the last two years," Rellergert said. "We try to sneak the tight end out in our offense because a lot of teams don't pay attention to it. It worked for a lot of big plays.

"Sometimes there were a couple of games where I don't know if I had a catch, but it didn't matter because we won. Winning was more fun than having 150 receiving yards and losing."

But Rellergert has proven that winning and big numbers can go together.