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On and off the field, Chris Dixon gives kids a reason to cheer

Since stepping on the field at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark seven games into the 2005 National Indoor Football League season, all Billings Outlaws quarterback Chris Dixon has accomplished over four-plus seasons is a 46-19 overall record, including a 5-3 mark in the playoffs.

Dixon has also has thrown for 259 career touchdowns while leading the Outlaws - 11-1 this season - to five straight playoff appearances and a league championship in 2006.

However, it's what the MVP quarterback is doing off the field that is cementing his spot as one of greatest players over the 10-year history of indoor football in Billings.

Not only has the 6-foot, 195-pound quarterback put up big numbers on the field this season - Dixon has been named offensive player of the week three times this season alone, while leading the IFL in TD passes with 60 and currently has a league-high passer rating of 125.5- but he is also the organizer of the Chris Dixon Foundation for Kids, which he established during the summer of 2007 to provide young kids with a role model, something Dixon lacked at times growing up in Oakland, Calif.

"The one place we could always go was a place we called Franklin (Park). We had pool tables, baseball fields and basketball courts. It was just a fun place for kids to go and get away from it all," Dixon said.

"I started (CDFK) wanting to be a role model in the community, and trying to provide young kids with the same opportunities I had," he continued. "It has turned in to a true foundation ... bigger than anything I could have imagined. We've done Christmas dinners and gifts, and Thanksgiving dinners, just a lot of stuff to make kids who don't have a lot smile."

Growing up in California, Dixon lived in areas plagued with gangs and drugs. He also battled an up-and-down relationship with his father before his parents divorced when Chris was in seventh grade.

"My dad was heavy into drugs when I was young, which was real hard on me, I always wanted to be with him and be around him," Dixon said of his relationship with his father, who was in the stands to watch Dixon play professionally for the first time on June 13 when the Outlaws defeated the Sioux Falls Storm, 70-35 at Rimrock Auto Arena at Metra Park.

Dixon had one of his best games of his career that night, completing 24 of 28 passes and throwing for seven touchdowns.

"I'd watch him play baseball and softball and he was always the best athlete on the field, it was really hard when my parents split up," said Dixon. "It was a cool experience having him (in the stands) but it was hard, too."

As part of CDFK , Dixon established a homework club - an eight-week challenge from Dixon to fifth- and sixth-graders to get their work in on time - at Bitterroot Elementary School and Alkali Creek Elementary this past school year.

"Chris came in and talked to the classes about why it was important to work together in everything you do, not just sports," said Chris Morales, a sixth-grade teacher at Bitterroot. "He did such a great job with the kids, and has made a huge impact on them in school and making them better people."

"I just want to motivate kids and let them know that their education is important," Dixon said. "More and more kids think school isn't as important, but they need to know anyone can go to college as long as they work at it."

The reward for Morales and fellow sixth grade teacher Jodi Albarez classes? An afternoon dodgeball game at the Outlaws SportsPlex with Dixon and Outlaws teammates James Walton, Charles Anthony and Kelly Rouse.

"My teammates have been great helping me out with CDFK," Dixon acknowledged. "Anything I have needed help with they have been there to help."

While making Billings his permanent home since joining the Outlaws, Dixon, who is the father of two boys, Chrishon (8) and Donivan (18 months), has worked as a youth counselor and an assistant football coach at Billings Senior and transported students from the Lincoln Center during the school year. He now helps run the Outlaws SportsPlex and gets many youngsters showing up in his office each day.

"I meet with a lot kids at the SportsPlex. A lot of them come here and just ask, 'Hey Chris, can I talk to you, I need some advice' and stuff like that,'" Dixon said with a smile. "I just want them to know that I have experienced a lot of the same things they have and I am more than happy to help them."

Dixon is already planning for next school year with an event he dubbed "dress-a-kid," in an effort to provide underprivileged children with new school clothes.

"It's really unfair that kids get made fun of just because they don't have the newest clothes. At least this way they will have something new and clean to wear and be able to feel good about them self," said Dixon.