Rickey Dixon (December 26, 1966 – August 1, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

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). He played college football for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

. Dixon was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the

1988 NFL draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Ma ...

with the fifth overall pick. He played five seasons with the Bengals and one for the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

College football career

A standout defensive back at

Wilmer-Hutchins High School Wilmer-Hutchins High School (nicknamed ''"The Hutch"'') is a public secondary school in Dallas, Texas ( USA). A part of the Dallas Independent School District, Wilmer-Hutchins High was formerly part of the now defunct Wilmer-Hutchins Independent S ...

in Dallas, Dixon came to

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

to play for the

Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaig ...

in 1984. He played in the 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988 Orange Bowls, in two National Championship games, and was a key figure in Oklahoma's 1985 National Championship win over Penn State in the 1986

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

. A consensus All-American in 1987, Dixon was the first Sooner to win the

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payco ...

, given to the top defensive back in the country. He shared the Award with Miami's Bennie Blades. He won all-conference honors in 1986 and 1987. The defining game of Dixon's collegiate career was the 1987 contest against the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

. Hyped as the "Game of the Century II", playing on the moniker given to the 1971 contest between Oklahoma and Nebraska, Nebraska was favored at home in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, boasting the #1 offense in the country. The Sooners came in ranked #2 in the nation, and sporting the #1 defense in the country. Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor came into the game boasting that the Sooners could not compete against the Cornhuskers. It was Dixon's two interceptions of Taylor in the game (one to set up a short touchdown drive, and one late in the fourth quarter to seal the win) that put the Cornhuskers away and guaranteed Oklahoma a shot at the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

in the 1988 Orange Bowl. In the Orange Bowl, Dixon had another key interception to set up a Sooner touchdown drive in a game that Miami eventually won, 20-14. Dixon finished his career with 170 total tackles and 17

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s (second only to

Darrell Royal Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an All-American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Mississippi State University (1954–1955), the University of Washington (1956), and the University of Texas (1957� ...

for the school record). During his senior year, he had nine interceptions for 232 yards which remain school records for the Sooners.

Career college statistics

NFL career and later work

The Cincinnati Bengals selected Dixon with the fifth pick of the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Ma ...

. He had one interception during his first season with the Bengals. Although relegated to

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, Dixon played in

Super Bowl XXIII Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

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 ...

. Dixon was traded to the

prior to the 1993 season. After retiring from the NFL, Dixon coached for W.T White High School and Paul Quinn College, and retired from being a

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

teacher at Red Oak High School in

Red Oak, Texas Red Oak is a city in Ellis County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The population was 10,769 at the 2010 census, up from 4,301 at the 2000 census. The North Central Texas Council of Governments projects that ...

in May 2007. Dixon was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2013. Dixon was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019 Dixon died on August 1, 2020 at the age of 53 in

DeSoto, Texas DeSoto is a city in Dallas County, Texas, in the United States. DeSoto is a suburb of Dallas and is part of the Best Southwest area, which includes DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Duncanville, and Lancaster. History The area was first settled in 1847 ...

due to complications from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. * Tackle data unavailable before 2001

References

External links

Rickey Dixon: All-American at SoonerSports.com
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070203185512/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=DIXONRIC02 Rickey Dixon Database Football {{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Rickey 1966 births 2020 deaths All-American college football players American football cornerbacks American football safeties Cincinnati Bengals players Los Angeles Raiders players Oklahoma Sooners football players Neurological disease deaths in Texas Deaths from motor neuron disease Players of American football from Dallas