Cal State LA Athletics

He finished fourth in the 1970 NCAA Championships and fifth in 1971, he really blossomed after college. Dixon won the silver medal at the 1975 Pan American Games and was ranked second in the world that year.

He made the U.S. Olympic Team for the first time in 1976 and finished 23^rd in Montreal. In 1977, he was ranked first in the world after winning the AAU and U.S.-Soviet meets. He also scored 8,390 points, which was the fourth-highest total in history and the second-best ever by an American.

Dixon was the top-ranked American again in 1978 and he made the U.S. Olympic Team in 1980.