Death is no stranger at West Point. From the Civil War to the Vietnam War and now the Iraq War, too-young fallen graduates have been honored with solemn ceremonies along the banks of the Hudson River.
But even at the U.S. Military Academy, the April 6 death of women's basketball coach Maggie Dixon, a 28-year-old 1995 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, from an arrhythmia heart episode was different.
"From the time Maggie arrived here, her enthusiastic 'no limits' approach earned her the respect and love of everyone," said West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. William Lennox, Jr. "Our entire community was heartbroken by her death."
That same sentiment was echoed April 11 by more than 1,000 mourners who attended her funeral Mass celebrated by Msgr. Robert Gallagher at St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood and a reception after at Notre Dame High School.
"She made reality out of our once-intangible dreams," Army forward Ashley Magnani told the congregation. "Coach Dixon, our angel, we promise to make you proud."
The team Dixon coached came from New York State to the funeral. Dixon, in her first year of head coaching at Army, led the Black Knights to their first NCAA tournament berth.
After beating heavily favored Holy Cross 69-68 in the March 8 Patriot League Women's Basketball Championship game in West Point's Christi Arena, cadets rushed onto the hardwood floor, hoisted her up on their shoulders and paraded off the court. Later, back home from losing in the first round to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament, the young coach received a standing ovation from 4,000 cadets in the dining hall.
Hired from DePaul University, where she was an assistant coach for five years, only days before the start of preseason practice last October, an ESPN sportswriter described Dixon as a "storybook coach of the storybook season."
During 2005-06, Army had its first 20-win season since 1990-91, taking nine of its last 11 games. The team's final 20-11 record was West Point's best basketball season since legendary Bobby Knight coached the men more than three decades ago, and Dixon was named Patriot League Coach of the Year.
When older brother Jamie Dixon, who encouraged his sibling to become a coach, took the University of Pittsburgh to the men's NCAA tournament in March, the sports pages of major newspapers ran black with stories about the Dixons being the first brother and sister combo to coach in the national tournament in the same year.
Both, in fact, graduated from Notre Dame High - Jamie in 1983, a dozen years before his baby sister. In her senior year, she captained both varsity basketball and track-and-field teams.
In basketball, six-foot Maggie led the Knights with an average of 13.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.6 blocked shots per game. During her senior year, the girls' team had the best record (at that point) in the school's history, going all the way to the CIF semifinals.
Dixon also held Notre Dame's discus record for 10 years, leading her track and field teammates to the CIF championship. At graduation, coaches voted her "Female Athlete of the Year."
But the gregarious student also received accolades from her classmates, who voted her as having the "best sense of humor."
She received a basketball scholarship from the University of San Diego, where she volunteered at a number of organizations, including the USD Student Outreach program, Junior Seau Foundation and San Diego YMCA Senior Olympics. After graduating in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in history, she wanted to play in the WNBA, but was cut after a tryout with the L.A. Sparks.
With her older brother telling her she would make a good coach, Dixon approached DePaul Coach Doug Bruno, who hired her. Rising fast, she became his top assistant in May 2004. Seventeen months later, she landed her first head coaching job at Army.
"Maggie was a very outgoing person," Becky Faber, a high school teammate and friend of Dixon and now a math teacher at Notre Dame, told The Tidings. "She was always willing to be there for all of her friends.
"She was just one of those people that you just met and you instantly had so many things to talk about, and felt like you had known her for so long. She had a great smile on her face always.
"When she was on the court, everything was about that moment in time," Faber added. "And she really was that team player. It wasn't all about her; it was about everybody out there and playing well. She was just very inviting to everybody on the team."
Maggie Dixon is survived by her parents, Jim and Marge, and siblings Jamie and Julie. She was buried in West Point's cemetery. |