By Jim Hague
Morgan Dixon was born to attend Rutgers-Newark. There’s no question or doubt about that fact. Dixon is Newark through and through, proud to be a native son, exuberant about being a vital cog of New Jersey’s largest municipality.
Need proof? Well, for three years, from seventh through 10th grade, Dixon attended Gill-St. Bernard’s, a prestigious private school nestled smack in the middle of the New Jersey countryside in a place that even sounds suburban called Peapack-Gladstone.
“I had to get up at 5 a.m. every morning,” Dixon said. “The bus came to pick me up every day at 6:20 a.m. I was the first stop every day and the last one at night. It was very tough dealing with that commute. I’d come home so tired, so exhausted, worrying about my academics. I overslept a few times and missed the bus. My mother then had to drive me to school. She wasn’t too happy about that. It was very crazy.”
After his freshman year at Gill, Dixon decided to transfer back home to Newark and University High School.
“It was a no-brainer for me,” Dixon said. “I was so glad to be home.”
Dixon was also an aspiring basketball player who every summer attended a camp held at Rutgers-Newark and organized by men’s basketball coach Joe Loughran.
“I think I went to the camp four years in a row,” Dixon said. “I always saw him there.”
Dixon played on some excellent teams at University, a program that traditionally wins 20-plus games per season. University won two straight NJSIAA Group I state championships in 2009 and 2010 while Dixon was there.
After his high school playing days were over, Dixon considered schools like William Paterson and Caldwell, because he had no intentions of straying far from home.
“I’m an only child, so I wanted to stay closer to home,” Dixon said. “I had no interest of going anywhere else. I wanted to stay here.”
It made the choice of attending Rutgers-Newark even more logical.
“I grew up in Newark,” Dixon said. “I’m from here. It’s where I wanted to be. I was comfortable there. Everything made sense for me to go to Rutgers-Newark.”
Dixon’s father, Levi Holmes, has been a detective in the Newark police department for more than 20 years. His uncle, Randy Foye, was a standout at Newark East Side and later Villanova University before enjoying a fine 10-year career in the NBA with five teams, including the Denver Nuggets, for whom Foye currently plays.
Plain and simple, Dixon is Newark _ and was an absolute welcome addition to Loughran’s program when he arrived four years ago.
“He’s just a tough kid who plays hard,” Loughran said. “He’s a glue guy. He played for a good high school program and did all the little things there. He practices hard. And that’s what he’s done here. He’s figured out all he could do to be a player on the college level and has done it with us.”
Dixon didn’t get much of a chance to play with the Scarlet Raiders right away. There were other guards ahead of him in the pecking order.
“He didn’t put his head down and pout because he wasn’t playing,” Loughran said. “He stuck with it and waited for his opportunity. There’s a good life lesson there.”
Dixon said that he didn’t mind his situation with the Scarlet Raiders when he arrived at R-N. Patience was going to be a virtue.
“I wasn’t worrying about playing time,” Dixon said. “I accepted my role. We had a number of guards, a number of scorers who were ahead of me. I just had the mindset that I was going to be scrappy, be the one who gets the team going. I was going to work hard in practice, trying to get better.”
Dixon also knew that he could find his niche as a defensive specialist.
“Not everyone can be a scorer,” Dixon said. “I grew up as a defensive player. Once I got here, I knew that I had to take a backseat to others who could score and concentrate on my defense. I’ve also always been a good rebounder for my size. I can get steals. We had a team that had so much talent. I just wanted to fit in.”
Loughran said that there’s always room for a program player in a successful program.
“I think that’s important,” Loughran said. “He’s a guy who doesn’t necessarily need to the ball in his hands to help you win. I like that about him. He’s going to do all the little things you need. You have to have guys who can play different roles. He wants to do whatever he can to help the team.”
This season, as a senior, Dixon has seen his role increase. He’s played in nine games, starting six. He’s played in more minutes this season than he did for the first three years combined. He’s averaging 1.3 points, 1.7 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game, but his contributions go far beyond any statistical category.
“He’s taken eight charges in the last three games,” Loughran said. “That’s his strength, the things you don’t find in the box score, being in the right place at the right time.”
He’s a leader, a captain.
“Every good team needs to have someone like Morgan Dixon,” Loughran said. “I think he’s a credit to his parents. We’ve had some pretty good players from Newark play for us, but no question, this is a kid who sells Newark and sells the school well. He knows what it’s like to be from Newark, to live here and go to school here. That really helps with recruiting. I love the fact that he’s a former camper of ours. It says a lot and it’s a nice feeling when that happens.”
Fellow guard Tyler Ofray is another former Loughran summer camper who is on the current R-N roster.
Dixon is a sociology major at R-N and will earn his degree later this year.
“I wanted to be someone who works with kids,” Dixon said. “If that’s as a teacher, that’s great. I like working with kids. I could possibly get into coaching. I might get into police work. It’s always an option. But I really want to do something to help kids.”
Dixon believes that this could be a memorable season for him and the rest of the Scarlet Raiders.
“I really think we have the potential to be the best team in the league,” Dixon said. “I know we have the best talent. If we work hard and execute more, we’ll be unstoppable. I think we could be in the top 20 in the country. I’m just glad to be a part of it all. It’s been a blessing.”
And it’s a blessing to be right in his hometown of Newark, right where Morgan Dixon belongs.
