George Washington Dixon (October 19, 1933 – August 6, 1990) was a professional

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

player and a

Canadian Interuniversity Sport U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

football coach. Dixon starred as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

, from to . While Dixon played in only 76 games during his

injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...

-shortened, seven-year career, all with the Alouettes, he is remembered as one of their finest players. Dixon's jersey #28 is one of seven

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

by the Alouettes, and he was inducted into the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

in 1974. In 2006, Dixon was voted to the Honour Roll of the CFL's Top 50 players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN. After his playing career ended, Dixon was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Loyola College Warriors (now

Concordia Stingers The Concordia Stingers are the athletic teams that represent Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They compete with other schools in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, and more specifically in Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSE ...

) Canadian college football team in the late 1960s-early 1970s.

College and NFL career

Dixon was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

in 1934, and was a graduate of the nearby

University of Bridgeport The University of Bridgeport (UB) is a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, the university was purchased by Goodwin University; it retain its own n ...

, where he starred as a running back for the Purple Knights. Following graduation, Dixon was drafted by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the 9th round (97th pick) of the

1959 NFL Draft The 1959 National Football League draft had its first four rounds held on December 1, 1958, and its final twenty-six rounds on January 21, 1959. Both sessions were held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. With the first overall pick in the dra ...

. His impressive 95 yard kickoff return for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

on August 23, 1959, against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in an exhibition game, was not enough to keep rookie head coach

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

from cutting him. Dixon missed out on a chance to be part of one of the NFL's great dynasties, becoming a

member instead.

CFL career

With

Verdun Shamcats The Verdun Shamcats were a team in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1950 until 1966. The team was formed in July 1950 by the amalgamation of five local Verdun junior teams originally created in 1945, into a single, more competitive team in the ...

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

man, and later Alouettes General Manager, Bob Geary blocking for him, Dixon amassed 5,615 yards on 896 carries, for an average of 6.3 yards a carry. He scored 59 touchdowns, 42 by rushing. His best day came on September 5, 1960, when he scored 4 touchdowns against the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

. Dixon rushed for 100 yards in a game 24 times in his career. Although the Alouettes did not have a winning season during Dixon's time with the club, the Alouettes made the playoffs 5 of the 7 years, losing in the Eastern Division semi-finals in 4 of those years. Dixon will also forever be in the Alouettes, and CFL, record book for his 109-yard longest run from scrimmage, against the

, on September 2, 1963. He also set the

Larks Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occ ...

one game rushing record that day, with 235 yards. Dixon's best season was in , when he rushed for 1,520 yards, was named an Eastern Conference and CFL All-Star and won the

CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Terry Evanshen Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winner from ...

. The following,

1963 CFL season The 1963 CFL season is considered to be the tenth season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the sixth Canadian Football League season. CFL News in 1963 Charter Membership into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame started on ...

was also a good one, with Dixon amassing 1,270 yards rushing and equalling his All-Star honours of the previous year. Dixon's great accomplishments have not gone unremembered. His uniform number, 28, has been retired by the Alouettes, and he was inducted into the

on May 6, 1974. In November 2006, Dixon was voted to the Honour Roll of the CFL's top 50 players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.

Career regular season rushing statistics

See: https://www.statscrew.com/football/stats/p-dixongeo001

Later life and death

After his playing career ended, Dixon coached the Loyola College Warriors, of Montreal, to great and unexpected success. The following quote is taken from the

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

2006 Sports Hall of Fame induction (Loyola merged with

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...

to create Concordia in 1974:) Dixon died on August 6, 1990, in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, at the age of 56.

Videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, George 1933 births 1990 deaths Sportspeople from Montreal Sportspeople from New Haven, Connecticut Players of American football from Connecticut Players of Canadian football from Quebec African-American players of American football American football running backs Bridgeport Purple Knights football players Green Bay Packers players American players of Canadian football African-American players of Canadian football Canadian football running backs Montreal Alouettes players Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees American emigrants to Canada Anglophone Quebec people 20th-century African-American sportspeople