Andre Johnson still thinks about the first time he realized Rickey Dixon was destined for greatness.
Then a sophomore defensive back himself, Johnson watched with awe as the freshman Dixon, not yet a regular starter for OU, took to the field and promptly intercepted Pittsburgh quarterback John Congemi’s post route throw and took off downfield.
The result was an 88 yard return for Dixon, as he foreshadowed his future success in Oklahoma’s secondary with one of the more fantastic plays of a lopsided 42-10 victory for the Sooners in 1984.
“When I’m just sitting around at home and thinking about Rickey Dixon and some of the things he did, at Pittsburgh his freshman year ... when he came into the game, from that play on, everything he did was amazing.”
Heralded by former teammates and coaches as one of the greatest defensive backs in Sooner history, the 5-foot-11 Dixon was a larger than life performer and a linchpin of a dominant Oklahoma defense from 1984 to 1987. He was known for his contagious and never-ending smile and his sacrificial hard hits. His death Saturday afternoon broke the hearts of many members of the OU football family. He was 53.
Dixon had been battling ALS since 2013, and was unable to walk, talk, breathe or eat on his own for several years. Sadly, family members say his condition was the product of misdiagnosed concussions that occurred while playing the sport he loved. He’s now survived by his wife Lorraine and four children.
While in his last years Dixon was extremely frail, those who know him best say his condition shouldn’t mask the great person he was.
“You just appreciated his spirit,” said former Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth, who played with Dixon from 1984 to 1986. “His spirit was gigantic and I don't know how his body contained it.”
Former OU defensive backs coach Bobby Proctor said it didn’t take head coach Barry Switzer very long to realize he needed Dixon on his team. Switzer watched Dixon play at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas just once and immediately noticed his potential.
“When he got here he was really a frail-looking guy,” Proctor said. “Not real big, but physically he had the ability to be a hell of a player and that's what he turned out to be.”
Though Dixon lacked size, he made up for it with speed. Former teammates still tell stories of how they failed to keep up with him on the turf while he outran them until they fell ill.
He was also an extremely hard hitter, a trait very uncharacteristic of his 160-pound build. While he was a nice, fun loving guy off the field, during games he was determined to uproot opposing players with authority.
“That sucker was a missile and I hated it,” Bosworth said. “That's why some of us up front made the plays so quickly, because if we didn't get down fast, Rickey was going to be right in our rib cage.”
Dixon worked hard in practice, went about his business the right way and kept himself from getting chewed out by Proctor very often, a feat many other teammates envied. Ultimately, he earned the trust of other Sooners on the field.
“We knew if we couldn’t get to it, he was going to make a play,” said former OU linebacker Dante Jones, Dixon’s teammate from 1986–87. “Whatever mistakes we made up front, he was going to take care of it on the back end.”
In 1984 Dixon posted a solid rookie campaign with two interceptions, and added three more in 1985 while helping the Sooners to a national championship win over Penn State. In 1986 he grabbed three more, becoming an All Big 8 honoree before a monster senior season solidified his place in OU lore.
The Sooners squared off against gridiron rival Nebraska in 1987 in a contest that donned the moniker of “Game of the Century II,” named after the teams’ famed bout the year prior. In a battle between Oklahoma’s top-ranked defense and the Cornhuskers’ prolific offense, Dixon twice picked off opposing quarterback Steve Taylor to propel OU to a 17-7 victory and another national championship berth.
In the 1988 Orange Bowl, he snagged another interception to run his season total to nine, giving him the most in a single year in program history, a record that still stands today. His 17 career interceptions are second in OU history to only Darrell Royal.
For his efforts he was named a Consensus All-American and a co-winner of the Jim Thorpe Award. Though he was not the Big 8 defensive player of the year, , who won the award, said Dixon should have received the glory.
“They might have given me the Big 8 Defensive Player of the Year (Award), but actually Rickey Dixon was the best defensive player on our defense in 1987,” Jones said. “So he should have won that award. He was probably the best player on that team.”
NFL teams saw it Jones’ way too. Dixon was selected No. 5 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1988 NFL Draft and went on to snag six more interceptions in five seasons with his first team before playing one season with the Los Angeles Raiders.
Unfortunately, Dixon’s injuries caught up to him after the conclusion of his professional career. In July 2013, he was diagnosed with ALS after months of pain and weight loss along with speech troubles.
Doctors said the issue was likely caused by repeated blows to the head during his football career and gave him only three to five more years to live. He was confined to a wheelchair or his bed and forced to eat from a feeding tube — a devastating blow for his family and friends.
“Watching what ALS did to his body was extremely sad,” said former OU defensive back David Vickers, who played alongside Dixon from 1984–87. “My wife and I saw him several years ago and even though I knew his mind was still there, his body was just deteriorating, and it just broke your heart.”
Regardless of Dixon’s state, he remained positive through his final years. He traveled to OU alumni events when possible and tried to keep in touch with former teammates and coaches as best as he could through social media.
In 2019, Dixon was honored by OU fans and players at the Sooners’ Sept. 1 season opener against Houston and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December. Despite being given a maximum of five more years on earth, Dixon battled his affliction for seven.
While Dixon’s latter days were filled with suffering, in the eyes of his Sooner family his illness will never diminish his identity. He’s remembered as a kind friend, a speedy and powerful assailant, a great player and an even better man.
“He always had a smile on his face every time you saw him,” Jones said. “That was Rickey.”
Correction: This story was updated at 12:47 p.m. to reflect that Dixon played for the Los Angeles Raiders, before they relocated back to Oakland.
