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3 CHEERS FOR WEST POINT WOMEN'S COACH FRIENDS SAY LAST FAREWELL TO DIXON BURIAL PLANNED AT WEST POINT.


Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News.

Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian.
 Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - They came to mourn, to comfort each other, to find words to express their grief, to celebrate a life that inspired others.

More than 1,200 mourners -- relatives, former classmates Classmates can refer to either:
  • Classmates.com, a social networking website.
  • Classmates (film), a 2006 Malayalam blockbuster directed by Lal Jose, starring Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Indragith, Sunil, Jagathy, Kavya Madhavan, Balachandra Menon, ...
, colleagues, admirers -- crowded Tuesday into her home parish of St. Charles Borromeo For the Indian sprinter, see .
Saint Charles Borromeo (Italian: Carlo Borromeo; Latinized as Carolus Borromeus) (October 2, 1538 – November 3, 1584) was an Italian saint and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
 Catholic Church in North Hollywood to remember Maggie Dixon, the women's basketball coach at West Point, who died Thursday after suffering an irregular heartbeat. She was 28.

``From the moment our parents brought her home, Maggie touched our hearts every day,'' her older brother, Jamie Dixon, the head men's basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh, said during his eulogy.

``She gave me inspiration every day. Maggie has been, and will always be, my best friend.''

Just last month, the Dixons had made national headlines as the first brother and sister to coach in the NCAA Tournament.

In her first year as a head coach at the U.S. Military Academy, despite taking over the team just 11 days before the season, Maggie Dixon led Army to its first 20-win season since 1991, and first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

After the funeral After the Funeral is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1953 under the title of Funerals are Fatal , a video montage of interviews with Maggie and Jamie shot before the NCAA tournament was shown in the gymnasium at their alma mater, Notre Dame High School Notre Dame is the name of the following high (secondary) schools: Bangladesh
  • Notre Dame College (Dhaka) in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Canada
  • Notre Dame High School (Calgary) in Calgary, Alberta
. They each seemed giddy -- with wide, toothy grins -- each so thrilled for the other.

Jamie Dixon smiled again after watching that video. So did Dixon's former players from Army and DePaul, where she worked as an assistant coach for four years, after her own playing career ended when she was cut after a tryout with the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1997, they are one of the 8 original WNBA teams and were one of the teams that participated in the league's inaugural game. .

``She may have been our head coach, but Maggie Dixon was our big sister first and foremost,'' Army forward Ashley Magnani said.

Rob DiMuro, who coached Dixon at Notre Dame, smiled as he recalled the last time he spoke with her.

``She called about three days after she got the Army job,'' he said. ``She called just to talk about coaching, and to say thank you, I think.

``She was just cool that way. I mean, who gets the Army job and takes the time to call up their old high school coach?

``That was the best thing about Maggie. She never left unfinished business. She would never leave anything undone.''

West Point Athletic Director Kevin Anderson said in his eulogy that the last time he'd spoken with her, Dixon told him that other colleges had called with job offers, but she'd rejected them.

``She said, `Kevin, I'm not going to leave you''' he said. ``So I was mad last week. But I have to consider who hired her, because God needed a good basketball coach.''

The mourners included the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , men's basketball coaching staff, the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission  women's basketball coaching staff, UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University)
UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX
 head coach Kathy Olivier and women's basketball great Ann Meyers.

Dixon will be buried Friday in a private ceremony at West Point Cemetery West Point Cemetery is an historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for American Revolutionary War soldiers and early West Point inhabitants long before 1817 when it  in New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 - an honor usually reserved for alumni and high-ranking officials. But Maggie Dixon was a lot more than a basketball coach at Army.

``She won the whole academy over,'' said Lt. Gen. Bill Lennox, the superintendent at West Point. ``She was a tremendous leader.''

Last Friday night, following a memorial service at the military academy, about 4,000 cadets held a vigil for Dixon, standing silently while taps was played.

On Tuesday morning, Monsignor Robert J. Gallagher gave Dixon an entirely different kind of tribute.

``The only other person I've ever done this for is my mother, but I think Maggie deserves three cheers for a life well-lived,'' said Gallagher, who baptized bap·tize  
v. bap·tized, bap·tiz·ing, bap·tiz·es

v.tr.
1. To admit into Christianity by means of baptism.

2.
a. To cleanse or purify.

b. To initiate.

3.
 Dixon in 1977.

And with that, all 1,200 or so mourners found the right words to express their feelings: ``Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!''

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

(818) 713-3611

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Jamie Dixon kisses the coffin of Maggie Dixon, his sister, during a funeral service in North Hollywood on Tuesday. She died Thursday in New York from an irregular heartbeat.

(2) Pallbearers carry the coffin of West Point women's basketball coach Maggie Dixon out of St. Charles Borromeo Church as members of Army's basketball team look on.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(3) Marge Dixon, the mother of Maggie Dixon, hugs a mourner at Tuesday's St. Charles Borromeo Church funeral ceremony for her daughter.

(4) DIXON
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Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Apr 12, 2006
Words:741
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