Sports

Dixon did it all for AHS

• Gordon Dixon was a star player in basketball, football, track and baseball before becoming a star in the eyes in the athletes he coached at Albany High School.

Danny Aller

ALBANY — Quite simply put, Gordon Dixon was a jack of all trades when it came to Southwest Georgia sports.

A former basketball, football, track & field and baseball star for what was then known as Camilla Consolidated in Mitchell County, Dixon seemed to excel at any event that involved athleticism.

But it was his later contributions as a coach of nearly every sport at Albany High which has him poised to become the latest inductee in the Albany Sports Hall of Fame, which will celebrate its 22nd year Monday with an annual ceremony at the Albany Civic Center.

“Gordon’s probably coached at Albany High School not just longer than any coach in the school’s history, but of any coach I’ve ever known,” said Albany Sports Hall of Fame president B.B. Rhodes. “A long time and a lot of championships — that’s Dixon’s legacy.”

Dixon, who is 72 years old and now lives in Thomasville with his wife Barbara, graduated from high school in 1953 after an all-star career that included a stellar four years of lettering in all four of his primary sports, capped by all-region nods in football and basketball in 1953, and a region track title in the 100-meter dash and 220-meter race.

And when he was ready to go to college, he didn’t have to go far, signing a basketball scholarship first with Georgia Southwestern in 1953 and eventually transferring to Florida State in 1954.

“He was a star at Florida State,” Rhodes said of Dixon, who couldn’t be reached for comment for this story. “But he became even more of one after he came back to (Southwest Georgia) and started coaching.”

Before Dixon returned to the area and began his long career as a coach for the Indians, Dixon played briefly with the Albany Blues minor-league basketball team.

After graduation from FSU in 1957 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree, Dixon briefly coached at Monticello (Fla.) High School, but his deep love for Southwest Georgia drove him back shortly after.

“He earned the respect of the his fellow coaches and players right away,” Rhodes said.

That he did.

After The Herald picked Albany High to finish last in region during Dixon’s first year at the helm, the new coach responded in a big way: His Indians finished first.

For the next 33 years after his first season,Dixon led his team to the state playoffs nearly every year en route to multiple state championship apperances. But outside of basketball, Dixon also tried his hand at the school’s B-team football coach for 14 years, 20 years as the boys tennis and boys and girls cross-country coach and even served for 25 years as Dougherty County’s driver’s education instructor.

“Gordon is so deserving of this honor,” said Rhodes of Dixon, who — unlike some inductees over the years — was chosen to be inducted the first time he was nominated. “When we got his résumé, Gordon was getting in — no doubt about it.”

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