Shortly after a ceremony Thursday to celebrate his signing with LaGrange College, Bryan County High School senior Terron Dixon said he wants to be remembered as the kind of football player who gave everything he had for his school and teammates.

Someone who knew it was important to show up every day for work and stay motivated, he said. 

Coaches said Dixon, a two-way standout who earned first-team All-Region 2—AA honors as a running back, was all that, and more. 

“He is ultimate teammate and the definition of committed,” said first-year coach Abram Scott. “He never quit. There’s so much character in this kid.”

Dixon’s popularity at BCHS was made evident by the standing room only crowd in the media center. It included students, coaches from multiple sports and multiple stages of Dixon’s athletic career, from recreation league at Hendrix Park on up. It included students, teachers, administrators and others who’ve known Dixon over the years.

“You see all the students and teachers and coaches here for this day,” said Donny Sikes, the school's athletics director. “That tells you what kind of student and athlete that he is.”

Sikes noted the NCAA estimates only 6.9 percent of the more than 1 million high school football players in the U.S. go on to play college football each year. Dixon’s work to get to that level is a testament to his character, Sikes said, adding “We’re proud that Terron is that kind of player and that kind of student athlete, and it’s no wonder how he got to this level.”

Dixon, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound workhorse for the 1-8 Redskins, said he’ll play running back for the Panthers, an NCAA D-III school that competes in the USA South Conference. He plans on majoring in exercise science and then getting a Master’s in physical therapy and working in that field. 

The personable senior has already got a head start on the academics, Tawauna Dixon said, and will start this fall already a college sophomore.

An English teacher at BCHS, Dixon said her son “has been a scholar athlete, and those who happen to know me know I emphasize ‘scholar’ first. He’s worked very hard in the classroom and on the field. “

Ever the teacher, she told Dixon’s friends and teammates at the media center, “to play at the next level you have to be focused,” take care of schoolwork and follow directions. Being obedient doesn’t hurt, either.

“That’s not just in school, that’s in life,” she said.

Dixon’s father, retired Army NCO T.J. Dixon, now a business owner in Pembroke, said his son’s signing was much about family and community.

“I’m happy to see a lot of familiar faces here,” he said. “I can remember back when we first moved to Pembroke and Terron was playing rec ball at Hendrix Park with a lot of you kids. I remember when they were this little, and now some of them are up here and looking down at me.”
T.J. Dixon thanked coaches and players for their support over the years.

“Appreciate the support and God Bless,” he said.

Longtime Bryan County High School coach Mario Mincey, the head girls’ basketball and tennis coach at BCHS and a longtime assistant in other sports, spent 2017 as the football team’s interim head coach.

He said Terron Dixon is one of those rare players who don’t come along often.

“He’s a football player,” Mincey said. “He's a football player. I knew that the first time I saw him on the rec field at Hendrix Park. He is a great kid and a special talent. He’s got a wonderful family and I’m excited to see him go on to the next level for himself and his family, but he’s made everybody here proud.”

Mincey, too, reminded the students in the media center that Dixon’s moment was bigger than they realized.

“This is not just for one person, this is a great look for Bryan County High School,” he said. “When it’s all said and done, that program at LaGrange is going to stay Terron Dixon, Bryan County High School. That’s what this is about.”

Dixon, who seemed almost surprised by the fuss, said he also looked at Berry College and Kennesaw State, but LaGrange felt most like home. He also made it clear he wouldn’t be headed to college to play football were it not for the support of his family, his teammates and coaches, and “most of all God.”

Scott, who coached Dixon for one season, said the running back and defensive back has become his first college signee as a head coach, and he hopes to get up to LaGrange to see him play. He called Dixon “a coach’s player, a true coach’s player.”

“Hopefully I taught him something,” Scott said. “He’s taught me a lot.”

Dixon, who played for three head coaches and fought through a winless season and then a one-win season, said he hopes he'll be remembered as someone who never quit, no matter what the scoreboard showed. 

“I hope I’ll be remembered as someone who was always there for my teammates,” he said. At the end of the day, I want to be remembered as someone who, no matter the adversity, I’d never give up.”