all photos: jamd.com

HEART! DESIRE! BELIEF! PERSISTENCE!

It’s the intangibles that can’t be taught that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. And in the case of Juan Dixon, it was those qualities that propelled him from a childhood rife with disappointment and tragedy into one of the most beloved, and respected, players in the modern history of the college game.

The unconditional love of his extended family, coupled with the asphalt of Baltimore, Maryland, conspired to bring him, not merely through the fire, but to the actual mountain top, where he earned a place among the greatest players ever in the decorated tapestry of ACC hoops.

At the age of four, Juan moved into the home of his grandmother, Roberta Graves. His parents, Juanita and Phil, were unfortunate victims of B-more’s heroin plague. But despite their broken promises and frequent disappearances into Charm City’s drug labyrinth , they imbued a fortitude in their children.

“Through their love, they showed us how to love,” Juan’s older brother Phil told the Miami Herald in 2001. “They never once abandoned us. They always placed us in the arms of an aunt or grandmother or cousin. Whenever they disappeared, we knew they’d be back.”

Embraced, sheltered and showered with love by the extended family tree, Juan was steered in the right direction during his youth and adolescence. His brother Phil was his role model, the one who provided the road map.

“Basketball was definitely an escape for me. In the summertime, my brother and I played all day long and all night long,” Dixon told the Miami Herald.

“We were adults at the age of 10,” said Phil in the Miami Herald. “In one sense, our parents prepared us for the toughest moments. We witnessed their downfall, and that made us more determined to succeed.”

Juan followed behind his older brother and emulated his every move. The bond they share is unfathomable to most. Phil became the father figure to his younger siblings, who also included sister Nichole and baby bro Jermaine, who will see some action as a junior guard for the #1 seed Pitt Panthers in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

“We were trying to survive,” Phil once told cstv.com. “We weren’t thinking about toys, we were thinking of how to get out of the situation. And being close…that’s the choice we made.”

“Everything I know, I know from Phil,” Juan told cstv.com.

That includes getting Bizmark on the basketball court. Through the intense playground and rec league battles, Juan soaked up his older brother’s fearlessness.

During one game when Juan was 9, his rec league coach reduced him to tears. 14-year-old Phil stomped out of the stands and came down to the bench to intervene.

“Phil popped me in the chest a few times,” Juan told Sports Illustrated’s Tim Crothers. “He told me, ‘Stop that crying. You can’t be scared. No Fear!’”

Phil played at St. Frances Academy and was an unstoppable guard. But the recruiters slept on him and never gave him the type of attention that many around the city thought he deserved.

So the 5′9″ player took his skills to D-III Shenandoah University in Virginia. After earning his degree in four years, Phil left as the school’s all-time leading scorer and assist man, earning the Dixie Conference Player of the Year honors twice. As a senior, he was named a First Team D-III All-American.

On some weekends, young Juan would travel down to Shenandoah to hang out with his big brother and watch him play. He’d internalize Phil’s fearless on-court demeanor and how he put every ounce of energy into being the best.

They’d run half and full court 1-on-1’s together and the older brother took no mercy. Over the summers, Phil would take the drills he’d learned at college and run Juan through them on the playgrounds.

“He would bust my butt,” Juan told cstv.com. “He made me cry, he beat me up. He is one reason why I’m tougher mentally. I got that from him, being strong.”

“Because of our situation with our parents…you wanted to prove to people how good you were,” Phil told cstv.com. “It’s just in you…you don’t want to leave your fate in anybody else’s hands.”

As a small skinny player at Calvert Hall College High School, Juan proved that, like his brother, he was a fearless competitor who, despite his small stature, could pile up buckets. In August of 1994, a few days before starting his sophomore year at Calvert Hall, his mother Juanita was diagnosed with AIDS. She passed away soon thereafter.

The day after their mother’s death, Juan and Phil hit the playground.

“Ever since we were little kids we used basketball as an escape to forget our troubles,” Phil told SI. “Going to the court that day was healing, becuase we were mad at the world. I told Juan that basketball could be his ticket out.”

A year and a half later, their father also succumbed to AIDS. Against Atholon High a few days after the funeral, Maryland assistant coach Billy Hahn was in the building. Juan sat out the first quarter because he’d missed practice all week. But after he dropped 25 points in the time he did see, the 135-pound player gave Hahn something to think about.

Like Phil, Juan wasn’t being heavily recruited. But Maryland coach Gary Williams was intrigued by a comment made by Calvert Hall’s legendary coach Mark Amatucci.

“Juan shoots three’s like other players shoot layups,” Williams was told.

His mind hearkened back to another diminutive shooter he once coached at Boston College in the early ’80s named Michael Adams. The 5′10″ Adams went on to play 11 pro seasons.

“Michael taught me to never measure a player by how big he is,” Williams told SI. “In Juan, I saw a great shooter who was motivated by people telling him what he couldn’t do.”

Juan stood 6′1″ and weighed 145 pounds as a high school senior. But he scored over 1,500 points for Calvert Hall and ran with B-More’s gold standard summer AAU team at the Cecil-Kirk Rec Center under the tutelege of the legendary Anthony “Doodie” Lewis. Lewis had a pet nickname for Dixon – “World.”

“My AAU coach called me “World” because my head stood out so much on my body,” Juan told SI’s Grant Wahl and Seth Davis.

It was during the summer before Dixon’s senior year when Williams became convinced of his future worth. At the Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia, Juan’s team was being blown out by more than 20. With two minutes left in a meaningless game whose outcome had already been determined, in a stiflingly hot gym, Juan ran full steam and dove head first for a loose ball.

“You see that and you say, ‘Well, he’s probably going to work pretty hard when he gets to college,’” Williams told SI.

After sitting out as a redshirt during his first year in College Park, Dixon suited up for the Terps in ‘98-’99. He averaged 7 points in 14 minutes of action per game.

But behind the closed practice doors, he was improving every day by battling All-American Steve Francis, aka “Stevie Franchise”. In the process, he studied video and digested the nuances of the college game. He improved his defensive footwork, hit the weightroom and added some muscle.

Nobody expected him to explode on the scene the way he did as a sophomore – averaging 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game. In the Terps upset of Duke on February 9th, 2000, he raised eyebrows with a scintillating 31-point gem. The 69-67 Maryland victory put a halt to Duke’s 31-game ACC winning streak.

Coach K was among the many impressed observers. “He was sensational,” Krzyzewski said after the game. “The best performance this year by an individual.”

In late Februaury, he dropped 23 in the Terps 81-73 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels.

People didn’t know that he was also playing with his brother Phil’s fuel, on top of his own.

“Phil wasn’t fortunate enough to play at this level,” Juan told cstv.com. “I’m definitely doing this for me and Phil.”

As a junior, he led the Terps to the NCAA’s and an upset victory over top-seeded Stanford and put Maryland in their first ever Final Four.

As a senior Juan was honored as the 2002 ACC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and ACC Athlete of the Year. He averaged 20 points and 6 boards for the season. During the year, he was the one player that his teammates could count on to have their back when Williams went on a rampage.

photo: si.com

The legend became fully formed during the 2002 March Madness. In the opening round game against Siena, Williams bent beserk when Juan tossed up an early, ill advised three. Dixon turned toward Williams on the bench and yelled, “Coach! Shut the F*** Up!”

In the Final Four against a Kansas roster stock-piled with former McDonald’s All-Americans and studs like Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison, Aaron Miles, Jeff Boschee, Keith Langford and Wayne Simien, Juan spontaneously combusted for 33 points. Teammate Drew Nicholas said afterwards in astoundment, “Can you say a guy had a quiet 33? Everything he got was in the context of the offense. It was amazing.”

In the title game against Jared Jeffries and coach Mike Davis’ Indiana Hoosiers, Juan was his usual unflappable self. After the Hoosiers erased a 12 point Terps lead in the second half, Juan looked at Phil in the stands and told him, “Don’t worry. It’s alright. I got it!”

He proceeded to knock down a three and 15-foot fadeaway, while smothered with quality defense, that SI described as “preposterous.” Maryland – with Lonny Baxter, Byron Mouton, Chris Wilcox, Steve Blake and others – then took off on a back-breaking 22-5 run.

At the end of his illustrious college career, Juan surpassed the incomparable Len Bias as Maryland’s all-time scoring leader, as well as becoming the school’s most prolific three-point shooter. His #3 jersey now hangs in the rafters of the Comcast Center. In 2002, Dixon was honored as one of only eight Terrapins to be selected to the 50-man, All-ACC Anniversary Team.

When asked, after winning the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player trophy, if he was nervous when the lead disappeared in the second half of the NCAA Championship game, he shook his head and responded, “I wasn’t nervous at all. I’ve been through tougher situations in my life. This was nothing. I knew we were going to win.”

It was something he’d learned a long time ago, through some tough brotherly love, on the asphalt of Baltimore.

THE PLAYGHROUND IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT IS THE SOLUTION!