Completed Event: Football versus Illinois State on August 30, 2025 , Win , 35, to, 3
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Football
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3
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Dixon Inducted Into College Football Hall of Fame
December 10, 2019 | Football
NORMAN — Rickey Dixon, one of the fiercest and most productive defensive backs in University of Oklahoma history, was among 13 former players inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame as part of its 2019 class during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday at the New York Hilton Midtown. Dixon, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2013, was represented by his son Rickey Dixon Jr. at the ceremony.
A 1987 consensus All-American, Dixon became OU's 22nd player and first full-time defensive back in the College Hall of Fame. He was the first Sooner to win the Jim Thorpe Award, given to college football's top defensive back, and earned first-team All-Big Eight honors as a junior and senior in 1986 and '87. Dixon finished his career with 170 total tackles, 17 interceptions and 303 interception return yards. His 17 career interceptions are one shy of the OU record while his nine picks in 1987 still stand as the school single-season standard. Only Derrick Strait (397 in 2000-03) has more interception return yards in Oklahoma history.
Oklahoma went a combined 42-5-1 (.885) in Dixon's four years under head coach Barry Switzer and played in the Orange Bowl each season. The 1985 squad beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl to claim OU's sixth national championship.
Dixon was the star of the "Game of the Century II" in 1987, with Nebraska rated No. 1 in the country and OU ranked No. 2. The safety from Dallas intercepted two Huskers passes, the second of which came in the fourth quarter to help seal OU's 17-7 road win and OU's Orange Bowl berth.
Dixon, who joined OU teammates Brian Bosworth, Tony Casillas and Keith Jackson — and Switzer — in the College Hall of Fame, was selected No. 5 overall in the 1988 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He played in the league for six seasons with the Bengals and Los Angeles Raiders, and made an appearance in Super Bowl XXIII with Cincinnati against the San Francisco 49ers.
Following his football career, Dixon became a motivational speaker for at-risk youth. He also owned a landscaping business, coached high school football and taught physical education at Red Oak High School in Texas.
Others inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday were Terrell Buckley (Florida State), London Fletcher (John Carroll [OH]), Jacob Green (Texas A&M), Torry Holt (North Carolina State), Raghib "Rocket" Ismail (Notre Dame), Darren McFadden (Arkansas), Jake Plummer (Arizona State), Troy Polamalu (Southern California), Joe Thomas (Wisconsin), Lorenzo White (Michigan State), Patrick Willis (Mississippi), Vince Young (Texas) and coaches Dennis Erickson (Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State, Miami [FL], Oregon State, Arizona State) and Joe Taylor (Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton, Florida A&M).
Only 1,010 players and 219 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.33 million who have played or coached the game during the past 150 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have been deemed worthy of this distinction.
The 2019 class will also be honored during the 15th Annual National Hall of Fame Salute at the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 28 (No. 4 seed OU faces No. 1 seed LSU), and will be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Founded in 1947, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame inducted its first class of inductees in 1951. The first class included 32 players and 22 coaches, including Bennie Owen, who coached the Sooners to a 122-54-16 (.677) record from 1905 through 1926.
A 1987 consensus All-American, Dixon became OU's 22nd player and first full-time defensive back in the College Hall of Fame. He was the first Sooner to win the Jim Thorpe Award, given to college football's top defensive back, and earned first-team All-Big Eight honors as a junior and senior in 1986 and '87. Dixon finished his career with 170 total tackles, 17 interceptions and 303 interception return yards. His 17 career interceptions are one shy of the OU record while his nine picks in 1987 still stand as the school single-season standard. Only Derrick Strait (397 in 2000-03) has more interception return yards in Oklahoma history.
Oklahoma went a combined 42-5-1 (.885) in Dixon's four years under head coach Barry Switzer and played in the Orange Bowl each season. The 1985 squad beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl to claim OU's sixth national championship.
Dixon was the star of the "Game of the Century II" in 1987, with Nebraska rated No. 1 in the country and OU ranked No. 2. The safety from Dallas intercepted two Huskers passes, the second of which came in the fourth quarter to help seal OU's 17-7 road win and OU's Orange Bowl berth.
Dixon, who joined OU teammates Brian Bosworth, Tony Casillas and Keith Jackson — and Switzer — in the College Hall of Fame, was selected No. 5 overall in the 1988 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He played in the league for six seasons with the Bengals and Los Angeles Raiders, and made an appearance in Super Bowl XXIII with Cincinnati against the San Francisco 49ers.
Following his football career, Dixon became a motivational speaker for at-risk youth. He also owned a landscaping business, coached high school football and taught physical education at Red Oak High School in Texas.
Others inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday were Terrell Buckley (Florida State), London Fletcher (John Carroll [OH]), Jacob Green (Texas A&M), Torry Holt (North Carolina State), Raghib "Rocket" Ismail (Notre Dame), Darren McFadden (Arkansas), Jake Plummer (Arizona State), Troy Polamalu (Southern California), Joe Thomas (Wisconsin), Lorenzo White (Michigan State), Patrick Willis (Mississippi), Vince Young (Texas) and coaches Dennis Erickson (Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State, Miami [FL], Oregon State, Arizona State) and Joe Taylor (Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton, Florida A&M).
Only 1,010 players and 219 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.33 million who have played or coached the game during the past 150 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have been deemed worthy of this distinction.
The 2019 class will also be honored during the 15th Annual National Hall of Fame Salute at the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 28 (No. 4 seed OU faces No. 1 seed LSU), and will be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Founded in 1947, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame inducted its first class of inductees in 1951. The first class included 32 players and 22 coaches, including Bennie Owen, who coached the Sooners to a 122-54-16 (.677) record from 1905 through 1926.
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