I’ve been a professional sports reporter for 13 years this month. Thousands of stories with my byline have been published across nearly every sport imaginable — yet, certain stories stand out.
Anytime I’m tasked with memorializing someone’s life, I know the story is going to be one of the toughest of my career to report and write. How do you sum up a person’s entire life in the span of a few hundred words, trying to condense decades of memories and moments into a couple dozen paragraphs?
If I continue this line of work for another 30 or 40 years, the first such assignment will forever remain vivid in my mind.
This upcoming November will mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of former Manitowoc Lincoln football coach John Dixon. He was recently inducted, posthumously, into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame .
Dixon passed away Nov. 12, 2014, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. The battle was so brief, I didn’t even know Dixon was sick until three days before he passed.
Remembering John Dixon: John Dixon's legacy at Manitowoc Lincoln lives on five years after his passing
After Dixon passed, it was my assignment to speak with his fellow coaches, current and former players, and family as a way to honor his memory.
I closed out that story with a quote Dixon used on several occasions: "It's not about what was lost, it's about what remains."
The quote was meant to help his players deal with the heartbreak of losing a football game, but then Manitowoc Lincoln junior Isaac Pethan spoke about how he found comfort in it after discovering his coach had passed away.
“That quote means more now than it ever did when he said it in a game,” Pethan told the Herald Times Reporter. “He's gone, but what's left is his legacy. We're going to try and live it on.”
Dixon’s legacy didn’t stop when he passed away — it only grew.
Several of his former players have gone on to become teachers and coaches like him, such as current Ships football assistant Mike Longmeyer and his son Drew Dixon.
Every student and player Longmeyer and the younger Dixon impact is a continuation of John Dixon's legacy. Those are potentially thousands of young men and women who will be enriched because of the time and devotion of just one man.
Nearly everyone I spoke with a decade ago spoke of how John Dixon used football as a way to connect with young athletes. What was lost was a 56-year-old educator, but what remained was his passion for helping and teaching others.
That kind of impact doesn’t fade with time.
From my own personal experience, my maternal grandmother, Evelyn Dallman, passed away two decades ago, but hardly a day goes by I don’t think about her and the lessons she taught me.
The very foundation of who I am as a person and how I try to treat others is based on random conversations in her kitchen growing up or helping take care of her the summer before she passed.
Losing those closest to us hurts. That loss seems unbearable at times, but it's important to find comfort in everything that remains.
Other individuals I’ve memorialized will also be among the most important of my career. Here are a couple of those.
Jevon Lemke gave the ultimate sacrifice in 2018 trying to save his father and stepmother
Former Reedsville athlete Jevon Lemke made the ultimate sacrifice in spring 2018 when he disappeared off the shores of Alabama in late March while attempting to rescue his father and stepmother from drowning.
Lemke was gone, at the age of 17, displaying the type of courage his mother, Carrie Holton, told me she found rare even in 20 years spent in the military.
In saving his father and stepmother, Lemke sacrificed the life he could have lived. But what remained was the lives of two individuals he loved.
Remembering Jevon Lemke: WIAA football: Reedsville rallies behind missing senior: 'After every game, I’ve cried'
The Reedsville Panthers, drawing inspiration from Lemke, had what was then the greatest football season in program history in 2018 when Lemke was to be a senior.
During the state quarterfinal, a narrow 17-15 home win over Pittsville, then-senior quarterback Carson Schanilec swore he felt Lemke moving the pile during games to help the Panthers win.
Lemke was lost, but hope remained.
Roncalli super fan Nick Aerts died at age 25 in 2018 of complications from MELAS disease
The Roncalli Jets boys basketball team in 2018 won the program’s first WIAA state championship, drawing inspiration from Roncalli super fan Nick Aerts.
Aerts died Dec. 21, 2016, at the age of 25 of complications from MELAS disease, which affects the brain, nervous system and muscles.
Despite never attending Roncalli, Aerts formed a bond with the school and its athletes growing up. He’d run up and down the sidelines getting fans pumped up during basketball games, earning the nickname "Nick the Jet."
Remembering Nick Aerts WIAA basketball: Roncalli celebrates state title in memory of superfan Nick Aerts
“Nick Aerts is a part of this team as well,” Roncalli President John Stelzer told the Herald Times Reporter in 2018. “He’s a part of all these kids because he was their friend. He was one of those supporters and one of our great Jet fans, so he’s always with us. What’s with us is that spirit.”
Aerts was lost, but the love he had for his friends and Roncalli remained.
The key lesson is time can never erase the impact people can have on our lives. We may lose the ability to see them or talk to them, but their memories and lessons remain.
Just because someone is lost, doesn’t mean they can’t be found again in our hearts.
Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com . Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck .
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Dombeck: John Dixon's legacy, legacy of others lives on long after they're gone
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