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Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN
ORCHARD PARK, NY – While Buffalo Bills has spent the past 25 years without hosting an NFL playoff game, Valentino Dixon has spent most of it in jail for a crime he did not commit.
Dixon, a big Bills fan, missed most of the team’s Super Bowl races in the 1990s and his most recent home playoff game in 1996.
Bills running back from Taiwan Jones is making sure Dixon doesn’t miss the next one.
After it was announced that Bills Stadium would open for the first time in the entire season, Jones presented Dixon with tickets to Bills’ wild card game on Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts. It is the latest in a series of highlights in Dixon’s life since he was exonerated and released from prison in 2018 after serving 27 years at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York.
Raised on the East Side of Buffalo, Dixon, 51, was arrested and convicted of murder in 1991, despite no physical evidence linking him to crime. While in prison, Dixon turned to art, drawing thousands of images of golf courses, although he never played the game, even though his history and art was published by Golf Digest.
A group of graduate students at Georgetown University made a documentary about Dixon’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment, which ultimately led to his dismissal.
Jones learned about Dixon’s story early in the 2020 season. He wanted to do something for him, but with the New York State and Erie County COVID-19 protocols limiting which companies were open most of the year, it was difficult for him to figure out exactly how to contact him.
“I was already kind of moved by everything that was going on in the world,” said Jones. “I was getting in touch with different organizations in Buffalo to see what I could do to make a difference. When I first read your story, man, it was moving and moving. I definitely wanted to do something for him.”
The brave of the special Bills teams contacted Dixon and said he was amazed at the attitude of a man who had every reason to be angry at the world.
“When he called, it was like talking to an old friend. Our conversation was genuine,” said Jones. “I think what stood out the most was that he had no grudge. He seemed to be very happy with the state of his life today. I was very surprised at where he is emotionally and mentally.
“He definitely showed a lot of character for who he is, because he’s just a happy guy. He didn’t know me or what I would do for him and he just had a lot of enthusiasm. I was happy to be able to do something to make him happy.”
Jones, 32, shared the content of his conversation with his teammates, including wide receiver Stefon Diggs, 27, who, like Jones, struggled to understand that he spent so much time behind bars for a crime that was not committed.
Dixon told ESPN that he “refused” to be broken for his time in prison.
“I had to stay that way – I mean, I was born that way,” Dixon told ESPN. “The prison was designed to break my spirit and I refused to allow that to happen. I was the one who encouraged everyone else to stay there.”
While in prison, Dixon’s love for the Bills never faltered, nor did his passion for football. He said he played wide receiver in the Attica football league for 20 years, winning five championships.
He said those links to the game made it “a dream come true” to hear Jones.
“In prison, there are only a few of us who are really good, so I did it my way,” Dixon told ESPN. “I would just tell them to throw up, I’ll run to catch him. I usually leave the guys 5 to 10 meters behind – at 41 [years old], I was still the fastest of that team. I was Jerry Rice in that league. “
Saturday’s game will mark Dixon’s second Bills game, the first being a pre-season game when he was 11 years old. As an inner city child, Dixon called the experience “something you never forget” that he has maintained for the past 40 years.
This game will be unique, as Bills is only allowing 6,772 fans in a stadium with almost 71,000 seats. It won’t be a full game day experience, but as Dixon said, “anything is better than a 6 by 8 cell.”
“This team right here, I know they can beat anyone,” he said. “They could have beaten anyone last year, but they just weren’t ready – now is the time. And I have no doubt that a Super Bowl is coming to Buffalo, if not this year, then the next three years.
“If we are going to play hard, there will be no team on this planet that can defeat Buffalo.”