Hart Lee Dykes Jr. (born September 2, 1966) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played wide receiver for two seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. He was awarded the

Dial Award The Dial Award was presented annually by the Dial Corporation Henkel Corporation, doing business as Henkel North American Consumer Goods, and formerly The Dial Corporation, is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut. It is a manufa ...

as the national high school scholar-athlete of the year in 1984. He played two seasons, and his career was cut short when he fractured his kneecap and because of an eye injury which occurred during a bar room fight that also involved teammate

Irving Fryar Irving Dale Fryar, Sr. (born September 28, 1962) is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons. Fryar played college football for the Universit ...

in 1990. He was also drafted into the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

minor league system in 1989.

Background

He was the winner of the Pitch, Hit and Run competition as a 10-year-old. He was honored at the 1977

MLB All-Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

. Dykes played high school basketball with

LaBradford Smith LaBradford Corvey Smith (born April 3, 1969) is an American retired professional basketball player. Career Smith went to Bay City High School in Bay City, Texas. He played collegiately at the University of Louisville before being selected by the ...

, and the duo lead their high school, Bay City, to the 4A State Championship in 1985. He was also part of his high school's track team, which won a state championship in 1984.

Playing career

At OSU, he was a member of a talented offense with

Mike Gundy Michael Ray Gundy (born August 12, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Oklahoma State University. Gundy played college football at Oklahoma State, where he played quarterback from 1986 to 1989. ...

at quarterback and

Thurman Thomas Thurman Lee Thomas (born May 16, 1966) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He was selected by the Bills in the second round of the ...

and later,

Barry Sanders Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), from 1989 to 1998 for the Detroit Lions. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and ...

at running back. Dykes was selected in the first round (16th pick) of the 1989 NFL Draft. In two seasons with the Patriots, Dykes caught 83 passes for 1,344 yards and seven touchdowns.

Post-playing career

, Dykes was the owner of a trucking company in

Sugar Land, Texas Sugar Land is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a populous suburban municipality centered around th ...

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Philanthropy

Dykes is a major advocate for charities such as the

Jimmy Fund The Jimmy Fund, established in Boston in 1948, is made up of community-based fundraising events and other programs that benefit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Since 1948, millions of people have given money to the Jimmy Fund to help save lives an ...

and

Autism Awareness Autism-friendly means being aware of social engagement and environmental factors affecting people on the Autism spectrum disorder, autism spectrum, with modifications to communication methods and physical space to better suit individual's unique an ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dykes, Hart Lee 1966 births Living people All-American college football players American football wide receivers New England Patriots players Oklahoma State Cowboys football players People from Bay City, Texas Players of American football from Texas