On Monday morning, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department unanimously voted to name the hoop courts at Walker Playground on Norfolk Street the “Medina Dixon Basketball Courts” as a memorial to Ms. Dixon, who grew up on nearby Willowwood Street and starred in the game in high school, college, and the Olympics.

“She’s probably one of the most decorated athletes in Massachusetts that we haven’t really talked about, especially on the women’s side,” said Al McClain, an in-law of Ms. Dixon, who passed away at age 59 last fall.

A former NBA draftee who has an impressive neighborhood basketball story in his own right, McClain said “she’s done it all. She was an Olympian on the first Dream Team, won an NCAA championship, and played pro ball overseas for a long time.”

Alfreda Harris, a former Parks Department deputy commissioner, was one of the first to recognize Dixon’s talents. She helped steer her to Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School and then on to the Division 1 college ranks.

“I have helped many, many young men and young women through the sport of basketball go on to major colleges and universities,” said Harris at Monday’s meeting. “Medina Dixon is one of the best.”

Dixon’s brother, Rob Dixon, said her family is happy to have the courts named after Medina, but all felt it should have come long ago.

“All of us are very proud of this achievement, but me personally, I think it should have been done five or 10 years ago,” he said. “We had to do it after she died, which is a shame for Boston…A lot of young ladies are playing high school and collegiate ball now because of what Medina did on those courts. It’s a generational thing now and that’s what she wanted.”

Her anonymity in her own neighborhood and in Boston was something that was painful during her best years, her brother says. He recalled after her team won the NCAA Championship, he went to the airport to pick her up. They expected some sort of celebration or acknowledgement from Boston, but nothing ever came – even after the Olympic medal.

“She came back from winning it all and I went to pick her up at the airport and there was just nothing,” he said. “It’s one thing to embrace, or not to embrace, one of your own. Boston did nothing. That hurt her at the time, it really did.”
At Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, VA, where the 6-foot-3 Dixon was a star player during the 1980s, she is still a revered figure. She was inducted into the ODU Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and the university retired her No. 13 jersey in 2011.

She played three years at ODU after transferring from the University of South Carolina where she had enrolled as the top girls’ high school player coming out of a talented pool of players in Massachusetts at the time. She led ODU to three NCAA tournament appearances, including a Final Four in 1983 and the national championship in 1985. In the championship season, she was a first team Kodak All-American, the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, and a Naismith Player of the Year finalist.

“Medina Dixon has given so much to the community of Norfolk and ODU; it is only fitting that her legacy be remembered in prestigious ways,” current ODU Women’s Basketball Coach DeLisha Milton-Jones told the Reporter. “The dedication Medina displayed while playing for ODU will be able to live on for many years to come through the dedicating of these courts in her honor. My only wish is that every person that steps foot on that court will do so in remembrance of a great player and an even greater woman, that Medina was. She will forever be a great ambassador for ODU Women’s Basketball.”

Beyond college, Dixon was part of the first Women’s Olympic “Dream Team” in 1992, opposite a men’s team comprising superstars like Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, and Michael Jordan. That women’s team went on to win a bronze medal in the 1992 Games, with Dixon playing a major role in that victory.

McClain remembers her as a scrappy young player growing up in Mattapan, playing with the boys and never afraid to be aggressive. Growing up on Willowwood Street as one of 12 siblings (her brother Rob Dixon was drafted by the NBA’s Washington Wizards), she played often at the Norfolk Street courts and learned the game there with her brothers and others from the neighborhood.

McClain said those courts were well-known in the 1970s for attracting top talent from all over the area, propelled by competitive pick-up games all the time and by hosting the annual Boston Neighborhood Basketball League (BNBL) playoffs.

“She could play with us, and she wasn’t a weak link at all,” he recalled. “Many of the other players were shocked she was so aggressive as a girl. She always wanted to prove a point that she could play… It would have meant everything to her to have the court named after her if she were still around.”

Nowadays, McClain runs elite girls’ basketball tournaments as part of the Battle New England teams. He has been adding Dixon’s name to those tournaments over the last year to pay homage to her achievements. Last summer, he hosted a tournament in her honor in New York City’s Rucker Park – and Dixon was able to attend in person. Next month, from May 13-15, he plans to host the 1st annual Medina Dixon All-Star Tournament, partly in Cambridge and partly at the Kroc Center in Dorchester.

“I always tell the players any time you want to reach full potential, you have to pay homage to the people that came before you that set the bar high,” he said. “I want all the ladies in these tournaments to know who Medina Dixon is.”

Rob Dixon said he and the Dixon family hope to help out in remembering Medina with camps, focus events and other basketball-related events on Norfolk Street. He noted, “We could have done it with her five years ago, but really this is a step in a positive direction and giving young people more access to things like this will be a bonus.”

Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods said the courts have recently been re-done, and the Medina Dixon Courts are part of a larger renovation project of the space, officially the George H. Walker Park. The renovations include a rehab of the playing fields, a new playground, and a new open space picnic area.

The request for naming the courts after Dixon came from Police Supt. Nora Baston, Alfreda Harris, the Dixon family, City Councillor Ruthzee Louijeune, and more than 200 signatories on a neighborhood petition.