Hanford Dixon to Join Legends Club on Saturday
10/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 5, 2010
(Editor's Note: The Southern Miss Department of Athletics is inducting its seventh football member to the Legends Club, Hanford Dixon, this Saturday during the East Carolina contest.)
By John Cox, The Voice of the Golden Eagles
When 18-year-old Hanford Dixon first arrived on the Southern Miss campus in August of 1977 for football team's preseason camp, few people believed that the 6-foot, 170-pound freshman defensive back, wide receiver and kick returner out of Theodore, Ala., had much of a chance to garner much playing time, but one of those people wasn't Hanford Dixon.
The brash, self-confident talented young player believed that he could and would make a contribution in his rookie year and wasn't afraid to enlighten anyone who would listen exactly that. Dixon quickly impressed coach Bobby Collins and his staff that he had the skills and ability to help the team. It took only a few short weeks for Dixon, who owned remarkable speed, quickness and football savvy, to beat out all of his competition for a starting job at cornerback and wind up playing more snaps than any other defensive player that year.
"I remember the first time I came to Southern Miss from Theodore. I could have gone to a lot of other schools but I wanted to come to Southern," Dixon recently remembered. "I told the guys I am going to start right away and I am sure they all said, who does this guy think that he is. But sure enough somewhere around the fourth game I was starting. I wanted to help the team anyway that I could, but I was confident that I could be a starter and I was determined to make that happen. Fortunately I got a chance early and was able to take advantage of it."
The legend of Hanford Dixon began in his first game against Troy State on Sept. 3, 1977, when he intercepted a pass to help the team to a season-opening win. Also that season he blocked a field goal try late in a game at Hawaii that preserved a Golden Eagle victory. Dixon would finish his freshman year with 44 tackles, a pair of interceptions and eight "big plays" (game changing type plays in a game that the coaching staff credited to a player) and help lead the Golden Eagles to victories over Southeastern Conference foes Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
It didn't take Southern Miss opponents long to figure out how good Dixon was and during most of the remainder of his career, very few teams ever threw the ball in Dixon's direction on purpose.
The following year as a sophomore he had 41 tackles, four interceptions and 10 "big plays." As a junior, he recorded 56 tackles, an interception and 10 "big plays" and as a senior in 1980 he had 47 tackles, two interceptions and 11 "big plays" and helped to lead the Golden Eagles to their first Division I bowl game, the Independence Bowl, against McNeese State.
In all in his career with the Golden Eagles he recorded 188 tackles, nine interceptions and 39 "big plays." Dixon was named to the all-South Independent team as a senior in 1980 and was also an honorable mention All-America pick that season. Dixon says he still fondly remembers the four years that he wore the Black and Gold No. 19 jersey and some of the team's most memorable games.
"Some of the bigger games were when we played intrastate teams, like Mississippi State and Ole Miss and how we use to really get up for those games," Dixon says. "The crowds were incredible and we didn't want to let our crowd down and it is just a shame that those rivalries haven't come back yet. But any time we played a team like Alabama or Auburn, teams with so much talent, one of the Southeastern Conference teams who always thought they were so much better than we were, and probably should be better than you and you are able to take it to them, obviously those memories always stick in your mind."
Following his brilliant and productive career at Southern Miss, Dixon was drafted in the first round of the 1981 National Football League Draft by the Cleveland Browns as the 22nd overall pick. He played nine seasons with the Browns and made the Pro Bowl three times in 1986, 1987 and 1988. He also was responsible for naming the Cleveland Browns "Dawg Pound," the section of the stadium known for their behavior during homes games at old Municipal Stadium encouraged by Dixon's "barking" at his teammates. Much of the success he enjoyed in the NFL he credits to what he learned while at Southern Miss.
Dixon has been honored many times by his alma mater including being inducted into the M-Club Alumni Association Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 and being named to the school's Football Team of the Century. Tonight, he receives another honor when he becomes the seventh football member of the school's Legends Club joining Reggie Collier, Brett Favre, Ray Guy, Derrick Nix, Sammy Winder and Fred Cook.
"When you mention the names like Favre and Collier and all the guys in the Legends Club that is some pretty good company," Dixon said. "Obviously, those guys were great players and meant a lot to this athletic department and the University. It's just a tremendous honor for me to be mentioned in the same company with those guys."
Dixon recalls fondly those who helped him during his years at Southern Miss, especially the coaches, teachers and athletic personnel and believes that they helped to point him in the right direction to be successful both on the football field and off.
"The people who have helped me along the way, those are the memories that I have and they all come back to me whenever I come back to Hattiesburg," Dixon says. "They were a part of everything that I have achieved and I will never forget them and Southern Miss. Southern Miss doesn't owe me anything, I owe Southern Miss. I just want to say thank you to the University of Southern Mississippi."
Congratulations to Hanford Dixon. Welcome to the Legends Club.