Former Oklahoma defensive back, College Football Hall of Famer Rickey Dixon dies at 53

Former Oklahoma defensive back and 2019 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Rickey Dixon died Saturday at the age of 53.

Dixon was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2013. His passing was confirmed in a statement from the university and by legendary Sooners head coach Barry Switzer.

Dixon, a Dallas native, played high school football at Wilmer-Hutchins before enjoying great success during his four years in Norman.

A consensus All-American in 1987, Dixon became Oklahoma’s 22nd player and first full-time defensive back inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was the first Sooner to win the Jim Thorpe Award, given to college football’s top defensive back.

Dixon tallied 170 total tackles, 17 interceptions and 303 interception return yards in his career at Oklahoma. His 17 career interceptions are one shy of the school record. Dixon’s single-season interception record (nine in 1987) still stands.

Dixon was drafted No. 5 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1988 NFL draft and played in Super Bowl XXIII vs. the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Los Angeles Raiders in his six NFL seasons.

Following his professional career, Dixon became a motivational speaker for at-risk youth and taught physical education at area public schools.

Dixon lived in DeSoto, Texas. He is survived by his wife Lorraine and four children.

“Ever since he left OU, Rickey has been regarded as one of the finest football players in school history,” wrote Oklahoma Vice President and Athletics Director Joe Castiglione, “and his enshrinement last year into the College Football Hall of Fame is certainly validation of that. As much as any of his accomplishments on the field, however, he should be remembered for his extreme courage and spirit of perseverance.

“Overcoming the daily physical struggles he faced the last several years is a testament to his determination, to his resolve and to his fighter’s mentality, as well as to those closest to him who provided so much loving support. When we think of Rickey we will reminisce about everything he achieved during and after his playing career, and we extend our sincerest condolences to his wife Lorraine, their children and the entire Dixon family.”

In 2017, The Dallas Morning News profiled multiple ex-football players struggling with disputes over legal fees accrued while fighting the NFL for medical compensation. Dixon, whose lawyer asked the courts for $900,000 of money owed to the family, was among them.

Rickey Dixon always hit hard. During his high school football days in Dallas, his career at the University of Oklahoma and his six seasons in the pros, he used his head to smash into his opponents — not just to tackle them, he says, but to demolish them.

Today, he needs help from his 9-year-old daughter to brush his teeth.

Brain injuries have left him almost paralyzed, trapped inside a body that has shrunk to just 115 pounds. At 51, he can’t work; he can scarcely move; he cannot speak at all. He hears his wife crying in the night, he wrote recently, “but I’m not able to walk over to her to wrap my arms around her to comfort her.”

For his family, Dixon says, he is fighting against the lawyers he once hired to pry compensation for his injuries from the National Football League. Instead, he says, they are trying to take money that should go toward his care and the future of his wife and four children.

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This wrangling threatens to bog down the historic settlement that the NFL reached to pay 20,000 or so injured players as much as $1 billion over more than six decades.

Disputes over legal fees are not uncommon in high-dollar cases, especially class actions. But the fights in this case also highlight the struggles of stricken football heroes and their families to cope with the aftereffects of concussions that the NFL and its players once considered just a part of the game.

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For Dixon, the $4.5 million payout will not translate into a life of luxury. He has his family to think about, including his 20-year-old disabled son, who will need care for the rest of his life.

Dixon's wife, Lorraine, who he met during their college days at OU, says the family would use the money from the NFL to replenish their retirement and college funds, which she has had to use to pay for Dixon's care. She would also like to remodel their house to make it handicapped-accessible for her husband.

"For us, this is not buying a big house and a new car," says Lorraine, 48. "It's just survival."

Back in 2012, as Rickey was getting sicker, the Dixons hired a lawyer, Charles Zimmerman, to take on the NFL. In a recent interview, he said he took on the case at no cost and went up against the league "well before reporters, movie producers or anybody else was looking at this problem."

He says he did a lot of work, including helping the Dixons to get a loan to tide them over as the case progressed. "Then when it came to fruition, and there was actually a dollar amount put on the case," Zimmerman says, Dixon fired him in 2015.

He is asking the court to give him 20 percent of Dixon’s award, or $900,000, which is less than he originally agreed to and, he says, is “more than justifiable.”

Dixon eventually received his money from the NFL and settled with the law firm that previously represented the family.

The payout allowed the Dixons to move from Red Oak to a larger home, one that better suits their family.

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