This past week, HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel did a story on Marcus Dixon, a young man from a small town in Georgia. His high school numbers? 6’6. 260 pounds. All Star Defensive End. Honor Roll Student. Full Scholarship to Vanderbilt University. Marcus Dixon had everything in the world going for him, until it all went horribly wrong. Dixon rose from humble beginnings to become who he is today: Defensive End for the New York Jets. As a young African-American boy in Georgia he was left without any family to take care of him, and was taken in by a local White family. Not so much like Michael Oher, because he wasn’t 350 pounds when his new family first met him. Marcus did, however, show a knack for sports at an early age, and as he continued to grow taller and stronger, he rose onto the national scene as one of the top football players in the country. However, with great ability, comes great responsibility. When Marcus decided to become intimate with classmate Kristie Brown, everything went wrong. Her father, a man known to be racially prejudice, found out his daughter had sex with a black boy and she accused Marcus of rape. Although that did not hold up in court, Dixon was convicted of statutory rape and aggravated child molestation, crimes that lead to a sentence of 10 years in prison with no chance of parole, because he was 18 years old, and Kristie Brown, a sophomore, was only 15. Soon after the conviction, HBO’s Real Sports did a feature story on Dixon, and brought the case into the national spotlight. A number of people and organizations, including the NAACP, traveled to Georgia and protested. Not long after, Marcus was set free and went on to play football at Hampton University, a historically black university in Virginia. Upon graduating, he entered the NFL Draft, but was not selected. He was signed & cut by the Dallas Cowboys in 2008, but was picked up by the New York Jets in 2010, and has been making plays ever since. A lot of young people out there could learn from his mistakes. Although he did nothing to deserve the punishment he received, Dixon obviously put himself in an unfavorable situation. Word of Advice: The only way to stay out of trouble is to stay away from it. Marcus Dixon was able to overcome it because of talent and exposure, but many others never get that chance.
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