LaGRANGE, Ga. (WRBL) – The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs are set to face off in the 57th annual Super Bowl game in less than two weeks. One LaGrange native will be joining them in Arizona, behind the scenes.

Lance Dennis is the Director of Labor and Staffing for the Super Bowl Experience for the NFL, a position he has held for 30 years. He also doubles as the Troup County Parks and Recreation Director. He and his team build the family-friendly experience every year for the families and fans that live in the host city.

There is one main reason why he continues putting together the Super Bowl Experience.

“Just the looks in the kids eyes when they come in cause that is their chance to participate and be involved in stuff. That was the whole purpose of the Super Bowl Experience that we have, we know that the kids in the community, they’re not going to have tickets to go to the game and they’re not going to be able to go. We create an event that is more important to them than the actual Super Bowl,” said Dennis.

Dennis oversees 3,000 employees that assist in providing fans with a football theme park with interactive games and opportunities to see things the Lombardi trophy and previous championship rings. His team has about a week to bring the experience to life.

His position started as a college dream and has turned into a lifelong career. Dennis began working for the NFL when he was a Master’s student at UGA and they were looking for part-time managers when Atlanta hosted the Super Bowl in 1994. He said he never imagined he would still be working for the league three decades later.

“The Super Bowl was coming to town and someone came and they were looking to hire five part-time managers to work and I didn’t have anything else to do so I said ‘sure I’ll do it’. They had a new event called the NFL experience and they’d done it for one year and they were trying to expand it and grow it so I worked it and I guess I did a pretty good job,” said Dennis.

Dennis was asked to return the next year when Miami was the host city in 1995. Years later, he now pays back to the community and hires current college students to work under him and have the opportunity he once had.

“I tell them, don’t close any doors cause you’ll never know what you’ll do,” said Dennis.