Five Best Defensive Backs in Sooner Football History
By Chip Rouse
Ricky Dixon, Cornerback, 1984-87
Ricky Dixon played on four Oklahoma Big Eight championship teams and the Sooners’ 1985 national championship team in a four-year collegiate career at cornerback.
He played in four consecutive Orange Bowl games. Dixon played a key defensive role in OU’s victory in the 1986 Orange Bowl (in the 1985 season), when the Sooners overcame an early deficit in a come-from-behind 26-10 victory over then-No. 1 Penn State to claim Oklahoma’s sixth national title in football.
Dixon also was a starting defensive back on the 1987 Oklahoma team that played Miami (Fla.) in the Orange Bowl in a game between the top two teams in the country for the national championship.
He was a consensus All-American in 1987 and was the first Sooner player to win the Jim Thorpe Award, presented annually to be best defensive back in college football. Dixon shared the award with Miami’s Bennie Blades.
Perhaps the most notable game in Dixon’s stellar Oklahoma career came in his final season. The No. 2 ranked Sooners were engaged in another classic contest with longtime conference rival Nebraska. The Cornhuskers possessed the country’s top-ranked offense, which was matched up Oklahoma’s No. 1-rated defense, anchored at the back end by Dixon.
The 1987 showdown with Nebraska was billed as Game of the Century II, another case of “Irresistible Oklahoma Meets Immovable Nebraska,” as Sports Illustrated headlined the first such named game between the Huskers and the Sooners 16 years earlier.
It was a home game for Nebraska in ’87, but the ever-aggressive Dixon spoiled the Cornhuskers’ victory party, stealing two Nebraska passes out of the air, one of which led to a late touchdown, sealing a 17-7 Sooner victory.
Dixon finished his career at Oklahoma as No. 2 on the Sooner all-time list for interceptions. His 17 picks were one less than career-leader Darrell Royal, who also played quarterback as a two-way player at OU.
Dixon was a first-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1988 NFL Draft, the No. 5 overall player selection. He played six seasons in the NFL (four with the Bengals and one with the Los Angeles Raiders).
The former Oklahoma All-American cornerback is currently fighting a battle of a different and much more important kind. In 2013, Dixon was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
Next: Zac Henderson, Free Safety, 1974-77