After overturned prison sentence, Marcus Dixon blazes a stellar record of academic and athletic achievement at Hampton University.
For Marcus Dixon, it’s all about second chances. Once a star athlete with a 3.96 grade point average at Pepperell High School in Rome, Ga., Dixon’s future looked bright as he was headed to Vanderbilt University on a full-ride football scholarship. However, in a 2003 case that inflamed racial hostilities throughout Georgia, Dixon’s life took a sharp detour when as an 18-year-old high school senior he was charged with raping a 15-year-old White classmate.
Civil rights leaders in Georgia and across the nation decried the prosecution as racially motivated, as Dixon was hit with six charges, including an aggravated child molestation charge — a felony that carried a mandatory 10-year sentence and one that had never before been applied in a case involving teen sex. Though the jury threw out most of the charges, finding that the sex was consensual, he was convicted on the molestation count and a misdemeanor statutory rape count.
In a 4-3 decision, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the child molestation conviction in 2004 and freed Dixon as he had already served more than the one-year sentence a statutory rape conviction carries — the only charge upheld by the court. Dixon credits his faith in God for giving him hope that he’d get a second chance.
After his release, Dixon accepted a football scholarship at Hampton University and enrolled in August of 2004. While at Hampton, Dixon amassed a stellar record of achievements both on and off the football field. As a senior defensive end, he was named to the all-MEAC first team defense, finishing the regular season with 58 total tackles, two forced fumbles with a recovery, eight quarterback hurries and a blocked kick.
His record of academic achievement is as impressive as his football accomplishments, if not more so. Dixon made the Dean’s List for the fall semester and is on track to graduate with honors. Most notably, Dixon won the 2007 Outstanding Major of the Year Award, which recognizes him as the top student in Hampton University’s health and physical education program.
