Dennis Dixon and the Ghost that Drives Him

Dennis Dixon. You've heard of him. 

Oregon Ducks QB? Yes.

Best running quarterback in NCAA history? Probably. 

Heisman Trophy winner, right? Almost.

A disastrous knee injury derailed his Heisman dreams. But the strange thing is, he doesn't care. He cares more about his team losing the next three games and losing their chance for the National Championship. Which by the way, they WOULD have won.

He doesn't even care that his draft stock dropped from being a late first rounder to the FIFTH ROUND. He only cares that he was still able to be drafted. What drives him, what causes him to totally disregard personal, individual accolades for the team?

Shortly after his freshman season ended, Dennis Dixon called his father, Dennis Sr., at a hospital in his hometown of San Leandro, California. He talked to his father for a few seconds, only long enough to find out that his mother was dying.

Right as the phone was being put up to her ear, she died. But not before Dennis heard his mom whisper his name into the phone. She died while on the phone with him.

Dixon admits he felt sorry for himself immediatly after his injury. But then he had a talk with his father. And in this case, the father did know BEST. He took his son aside and told him that this did not even start to compare with his mother's death. 

"I could never have another low point besides losing my mom,” Dixon said. “Nothing can get worse than that. Anything else doesn’t seem as bad.”

Dixon says he uses his mother to drive him to better things. As for falling from the first to the fifth round? Well, I'll just let him tell you. "This is an opportunity for me,” Dixon said.

“I am going to do the best I can and hopefully that is enough.” That right there is the attitude of a star. Not a star quarterback. Not a star football player. But a first-class star person. And when he is running and passing for touchdowns on Sundays, he'll have the ghost of his mother shining down on him from the STARS.