<p>National Sportsmanship Awards Dinner</p>
<p>By Kathleen Nelson
St. Louis Post-Dispactch
June 21, 2007 </p>
<p>Life-and-death analogies are everywhere in sports, yet they have no place in it. Nowhere is that more obvious than at the U.S. Military Academy. Advertisement </p>
<p>"Death is something that these young men and women have to deal with all the time, whether it's a friend or a classmate," said Dave Magarity, women's basketball coach at West Point. "It's one thing when one of your friends goes overseas and something happens to them. It's part of the training. It's another when you don't see it coming."</p>
<p>Such was the case last year with Magarity's predecessor, Maggie Dixon. Just weeks after leading Army to its first NCAA Tournament appearance, Dixon died of heart arrhythmia. Life and death wasn't an analogy; it was reality.</p>
<p>The Black Knights rose above their grief, dedicated the season to Dixon and produced a record of 24-6, best in school history.</p>
<p>Army's resilient soul will be honored at tonight's National Sportsmanship Awards at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. The dinner is hosted by the St. Louis Sports Commission and the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance, whose members include the NCAA, NHL, Major League Baseball and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.</p>
<p>"Army's story was one of the biggest in the country last spring," said Mike Cleary, executive director of NACDA, which nominated the team. "But we didn't think anybody had done enough with it nationally, and it had legs."</p>
<p>More than legs, aka longevity, the story has heart. Hired just weeks before the start of the 2005-06 season, Dixon led the Black Knights to the NCAA Tournament in her first year as a head coach. At her side was Magarity, who met Maggie just after she took the job. He was instantly charmed, left his job as assistant commissioner with the Mid-American Conference and signed on as her assistant.</p>
<p>"Bobby Knight coached here, Mike Krzyzewski coached here, and it had never happened with them," said Magarity, 56, who coached the men's team at Marist for 18 years. "It was so much fun. In the back of my mind, I was thinking she was on her way."</p>
<p>So was Magarity. He accepted a job as a scout with the New Orleans Hornets, and Dixon had planned to hire Magarity's daughter, Maureen, as his replacement. Less than three weeks later, Dixon collapsed on the floor at a friend's home, slipped into a coma and died the next day, April 6. She was 28.</p>
<p>Magarity still struggles to get beyond "horrible" in describing the torrent of emotion from her death, the funeral at West Point and the memorial ceremony at the home of Dixon's parents in California.</p>
<p>Returning from the service, Magarity said, West Point superintendent Lt. Gen. William Jay Lennox "called me to the front of the plane and said, 'These girls need you.' It was tough because I had the ultimate waiting for me: a job in the NBA. But I also thought about whether I wanted to spend my time in a gym in Lithuania or doing what I love, which is coaching."</p>
<p>Magarity, 56, decided to stay, even though he had never coached women.</p>
<p>"I don't think anyone could have imagined any other coach trying to step into that situation," said guard Anna Wilson, who will be a captain next season. "I don't think an outsider could relate to what we went through. Having a familiar face was comforting."</p>
<p>With the job came a house that the academy had built for Dixon. The Magaritys moved in without hesitation but insisted on a memorial to Dixon, inspired by Magarity's wife, Rita.</p>
<p>On a rainy day in September, the players took turns kneeling in the mud to plant bulbs and perennials. In the middle, Rita placed a stone marker on which she had painted "Maggie's Garden."</p>
<p>The toughest part for Wilson was the early practices, "coming to the realization that Coach Dixon wasn't going to show up and put a smile on our faces."</p>
<p>Magarity's biggest hurdle was the season opener, part of the Maggie Dixon Classic, a doubleheader spearheaded by her brother Jamie, the Pitt men's coach. The Army women lost to No. 5 Ohio State, coached by Magarity's boyhood pal Jim Foster, and the Pitt men beat Western Michigan. Dixon's parents and sister stood at center court to receive championship rings and see the championship banners raised.</p>
<p>With four returning starters, a simplified scheme and their dedication to Dixon, the Black Knights jumped to a 17-2 record.</p>
<p>"We didn't have the best players, but they believed in themselves," Magarity said. "She gave them that gift."</p>
<p>Magarity started to feel the strain just before the Patriot League tournament, in which the Black Knights were seeded second but lost in the first round.</p>
<p>Magarity hoped that Army's record would be good enough for an NIT bid. It never came. Instead, the team received the V Foundation Comeback Award and tonight's honor. And, after the team returned from spring break, Maggie's Garden bloomed. </p>
<p>Since then, Magarity said, he and Rita "have waged a two-month war against the weeds, deer and rabbits" in tending to the garden for the players, families, fans and visitors who stroll by on their way to Dixon's grave site.</p>
<p>"They had every excuse in the world to give up but instead brought out their best," he said. "I'm so proud of what they did."</p>