NORFOLK, Va. – The nine members of the 1985 Old Dominion women's basketball team, the last ODU basketball team to win a national championship, went their separate ways after leaving school.
Other than a reunion that some players attended in 1995, in the 37 years since they last played together, they've not all gathered together.
That all changed, virtually at least, when former All-American forward Medina Dixon came down with pancreatic cancer. Three years ago, all the players and coaches from that team began to gather on Zoom calls to comfort Dixon.
Dixon finally succumbed to cancer on Nov. 8, 2021, after a valiant, three-year fight. But the Zoom meetings have continued.
"Medina was surviving because of the group chats," said former ODU teammate Adrienne Goodson. "We're still meeting. We're trying to support each other as much as we can."
A Boston native ranked the nation's No. 1 high school player, Dixon transferred to ODU from South Carolina. In spite of playing just three seasons at ODU, her 1,968 points rank eighth in ODU history, and was a first-team Kodak All-American as a senior.
Standing 6-foot-3, she had tremendous leaping ability and in some ways was ahead of her time. Much of her career she played on boys' teams because she was simply too good to play for the girls.
She scored 18 points and had 15 rebounds in ODU's 70-65 victory over Georgia in the 1985 national championship game in Austin, Texas.
She was the emotional force behind a team, led by a demanding coach in Marianne Stanley, that constantly overperformed. It was the first college team I covered as a beat writer, and I'm not sure I ever saw a coach do more with less than Stanley did that season.
She was brilliant, unpredictable and absolutely driven.
And I saw few players with more drive and determination than Dixon.
After a few player defections, the Lady Monarchs were left with nine able-bodied players. The Lady Monarchs recruited male students to help give them enough bodies to hold full practices.
"We were always looking for people for practice," said Goodson, a freshman on that team.
They beat better teams with guts and determination and Stanley's brilliant coaching. At halftime against Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana Monroe) in the semifinals of the Final Four, and with her team trailing badly, Stanley sent the Lady Monarchs into a "junk" defense they had never practiced.
She literally drew it up on a chalk board at halftime.
Dawn Cullen Jonas, a junior from Norfolk Catholic, was stationed under the basket at center and told to guard the paint. Forwards Tracy Claxton and Dixon played man-to-man, fronting the post players and the guards Marie Christian and Lisa Blais played man-to-man.
The defense discombobulated Northeast Louisiana and ODU rallied to win 57-47.
Stanley broke out the defense again in the second half against Georgia and the Lady Monarchs, willed on by Dixon, won again.
"What Marianne did was absolutely brilliant," said Wendy Larry, the former ODU player and coach who was an assistant on that team.
"Medina, she was the fierce one on that team. She made it known she wasn't going home without a championship."
Dixon won an Olympic Bronze Medal in 1992 and played professionally for 10 seasons in Europe and later in Japan at a time when the WNBA had not yet formed.
"She would have been a superstar in the WNBA," said former ODU All-American Nancy Lieberman.
Dixon's jersey No. 13 was retired by ODU 2011.
By then, Dixon was already sick. She learned in 1998 she had epilepsy and later was diagnosed with diabetes. Then, in 2018, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
"She was so damn brave," said Cullen Jonas. "She was so tough. There was never any, 'woe is me.' She fought the entire time. I don't think I could be that strong.
"She really loved to talk with us. She would reach out and say, 'I miss you ladies. Can we have a Zoom?''
Goodson and Dixon became close in Goodson's freshman season. Goodson recalls meeting Dixon at the old ODU fieldhouse on her second day on campus in 1984.
"She says to me, 'Are you Adrienne?' and I said yeah," Goodson said. "And then she started talking smack with me.
"After we went back and forth three or four times, she smiles and says, 'I like you.'"
They started shooting baskets and were eventually joined by Lieberman and tennis star Martina Navratilova in an impromptu full-court game. Lieberman and Navratilova were friends at the time and Navratilova was a frequent visitor to ODU.
"Imagine that, in my first 48 hours on campus, playing basketball with Nancy Lieberman, Martina Navratilova and Medina Dixon," Goodson said.
Goodson lost a grandmother to cancer, so she was prepared for the ordeal of watching her close friend die.
"I knew what cancer does, how it ravages the body," she said. "It took her body, but it did not take her spirit.
"Medina was not going to give up, and even when she knew what was going to happen, she was smiling and at peace.
"She led us to the national championship. And she faced the next chapter like a champion. There was no fear."
Last Labor Day weekend, Goodson and Dixon and some other former ODU teammates went to the Outer Banks to stay at a home owned by Lynne Seagle, who was a mentor for that 1985 team and is executive director of the Hope House Foundation in Norfolk.
"We had the best time, cooking, laughing, talking, drinking wine, toking cigars," Goodson said. She was able to record some of those conversations and listens to them from time to time.
The weather was poor most of their weekend, but the rain let up for an hour and Dixon was able to get on a jet ski with Seagle's husband, Chad.
"There was just enough time for her to go out for an hour and then it started pouring again," Goodson said. "I was just like, 'thank you, Lord, thank you so much.'
"The next day, she was so radiant."
Cullen Jonas, who lives in New York City, and Blais, who lives in Maine, decided to visit Dixon on Nov. 7 in Boston. It was Blais who organized the Zoom meetings.
When they arrived at the hospital, Dixon had already had visitors and she was only supposed to have one visit a day.
But a kind nurse ushered them in to see her.
"I knew if I didn't go, I'd regret it," Cullen Jonas said. "She was just so thin. It took your breath away.
"She was so happy to see us. We tried to be lighthearted. But you could see she was suffering."
The following morning Dixon passed away with her wife, Hiroyo Dixon, and 16-year-old daughter by her side.
Dixon met Hiroyo, who goes by the nickname "YoYo," while playing professionally in Japan. YoYo came back to America with Dixon.
The family has had difficulty paying medical and funeral expenses and set up a Go-Fund-Me Account.
As of June 28, the fund had raised less than $10,000 of its goal of $15,000. Lieberman and Cullen have made the largest contributions.
Donate to Medina Dixon Go Fund Me Account
"Throughout her entire ordeal with pancreatic cancer, Medina believed she was going to beat it," Goodson said. "I know she was in excruciating pain. At times, she couldn't get on a call with us, but we would talk anyway.
"If it was up to her, she would still be here fighting. But God was like, 'Enough is enough. It's your time to go.'
"I will have to do her justice and march into glory the same way she did."
When Dixon's former teammates continue to talk via Zoom, they relive old memories and catch up on what is happening in their lives.
"It's sad that it took something like Medina getting sick for us to start these Zoom meetings," Goodson said.
"But it's also been a blessing. It was such a blessing to reconnect with people who were so important to you."
Boston hasn't forgotten Dixon. In April, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department renamed the basketball courts at Walker Playground on, of all places, Norfolk Street, the "Medina Dixon Basketball Courts. Dixon grew up in an adjacent neighborhood.
Then, in May, dozens of Dixon's family members and friends watched the opening ceremony of the Battle of New England All-Star Tournament, which was held in her honor at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Cambridge, Mass. Dixon led Cambridge Rindge & Latin School to a state championship as a senior.
The tournament was organized by Al McClain, Dixon's cousin, and brought together eight of the top teams from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Maine.
"Before Medina passed, she had a special conversation with me," McClain told Rhode island News.
"She wanted to see all the best girls represent her in the basketball tournament."
Goodson brought a team up from New Jersey.
"Medina, this is for you," she said during the opening ceremony. "I know you're smiling."
Minium: ODU's 1985 National Championship Team Came Together to Comfort Medina Dixon
