{"id":14181,"date":"2016-09-17T07:51:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-17T13:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=14181"},"modified":"2016-09-17T07:51:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-17T13:51:00","slug":"meet-chris-dixon-billings-football-evangelist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/09\/meet-chris-dixon-billings-football-evangelist\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Chris Dixon, Billings’ football evangelist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Plex\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

Chris Dixon stands in the mezzanine of the Billings Sports Plex, of which he is the manager.<\/p><\/div>\n

Calling Chris Dixon a supporter or a backer of football doesn\u2019t quite convey his passion for the sport.<\/p>\n

He is more of a football evangelist, always looking for ways to introduce young people to the sport that did so much for him, and to nurture them as they get better at the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is the ultimate team sport,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cYou can\u2019t move without everyone doing their job. You build character and you build relationships through football. That\u2019s what I want to offer these kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, \u201cthese kids\u201d include more than 300 young athletes involved in the Mighty Football League, for 7- to 10-year-olds; a travel flag football team for kids in second through fourth grade; and a U-12 travel team called the Outlaws.<\/p>\n

Dixon christened that team the Outlaws to perpetuate the name that, in his words, \u201cput Billings on the football map.\u201d He should know: Dixon quarterbacked the Billings Outlaws when they won three back-to-back championships, the last two in the Indoor Football League, and then he won three more IFL titles with the Sioux Falls Storm.<\/p>\n

When Dixon retired as a player in 2014, his record as a quarterback\u2014he threw for more than 25,000 yards and 600 touchdowns\u2014was unmatched in the IFL.<\/p>\n

He returned to Billings two years ago to coach the Billings Wolves and he is also running the Billings Sports Plex<\/a>, the indoor training facility originally built for the Outlaws. He started the Mighty Football program in 2008 and got the other youth football programs going in the past seven months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to give these kids a chance to develop themselves and become the players they really want to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also wants to take a team to an American Athletic Union tournament. As far as he knows, Dixon said, Montana is the only state that doesn\u2019t send any teams to the AAU nationals, which are held in different states depending on which region of the country the teams come from.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Going to tournaments like those sponsored by the AAU is the best way to encourage young players and to give them a chance to compare their talents not just with other kids in the state but from all over the country, Dixon said.<\/p>\n

For much the same reason, Dixon held his first \u201cfootball showcase\u201d at Skyview High School last May, allowing Montana high school football players to show their stuff to college coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives us a chance to hopefully start getting these kids ranked statewide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Montana, Dixon said, all the attention goes to the big two teams\u2014the UM Grizzlies and the MSU Bobcats, with little left over for high school teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t celebrate our athletes in high school enough,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to make it a big deal. We need to make it a really big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dixon\u2019s passion for youth sports was shared by his high school basketball coach, Ken Carter, whose experiences were the inspiration for the 2005 movie \u201cCoach Carter<\/a>,\u201d which featured Samuel Jackson in the title role.<\/p>\n

Carter became famous in 1999 when, as the basketball coach in Richmond, Calif., he canceled his undefeated team\u2019s games because so many of his players were underperforming academically. Dixon was on the team that year and even had a bit part in the movie.<\/p>\n

Carter, reached by phone, remembered Dixon as \u201can absolutely amazing athlete,\u201d a standout at basketball, baseball and football. What is even more important, Carter said, was that \u201cyou can always depend on that young man. He is what you call the ultimate warrior, in every walk of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody worked harder than Dixon, he said, in terms of preparing mentally and physically.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther than my son, Chris is my all-time most favorite player,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI just like how mentally tough he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dixon also has a fan in Mike Parnell, the owner of the Billings Sports Plex and a former owner of the Billings Outlaws. He called Dixon \u201cone of the most entrepreneurial players we had. He really thought out of the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Dixon decided to start the Mighty Football program, Parnell said, he basically did everything needed to get the program going, including organizing the coaching staff, arranging for transportation and putting together a schedule.<\/p>\n

Dixon also presented Parnell with a budget for football equipment, which the league was going to give to every player who signed up. Parnell looked at the list of equipment and told Dixon it was too expensive, that it was all top of the line, good enough for college or even pro players. But Dixon wouldn\u2019t budge.<\/p>\n

Parnell said Dixon told him, \u201cNope. I want them to be safe and I want their parents to feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, somewhat grudgingly he admits, Parnell approved the budget.<\/p>\n

Dixon is full of ideas and plans for expanding football in Billings. He wants to find a permanent outdoor home field for the Outlaws, with the goal of hosting a regional AAU tournament here, and he wants to find more coaches. He already superintends about 40 adult volunteers, he said, but he\u2019d like to have several coaches for every team.<\/p>\n

Dixon normally bristles with energy, but he can be calm in facing the challenges that lie ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll build,\u201d he said. “I\u2019m not worried about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calling Chris Dixon a supporter or a backer of football doesn\u2019t quite convey his passion for the sport. He is more of a football evangelist, always looking for ways to introduce young people to the sport that did so much for him, and to nurture them as they get better at the game. \u201cFootball is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[4974,4975,4971,4976,4972,4973],"class_list":["post-14181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversions","tag-billings-outlaws","tag-billings-wolves","tag-chris-dixon","tag-indoor-football-league","tag-ken-carter","tag-mike-parnell","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}