One would be hard-pressed to find two people with more Chickasaw pride than Blytheville High School athletic director David Hixson and his wife Lori, a former member of the Blytheville School Board who continued her passionate support of the students long after her final meeting.
Today marks the end of an era as it is Coach Hixson’s final day; he’s retiring after 35 years of service to the Blytheville School District.
Coach Hixson has impacted countless lives over the years and built relationships with the student-athletes that continue to this day. A state championship coach in basketball and golf and the 2015 5A Athletic Director of the Year, his resume is impeccable.
That 2006 Chickasaw basketball state championship seemed to unify the community and returned Blytheville to being the class of the state.
Of course, Coach Hixson also led the Chicks on several other deep runs in the state tournament, along with filling the trophy case with Northeast Arkansas Invitational Tournament titles and conference championships.
He also played a major role when assisting legendary coach Danny Ebbs in winning two state titles (1986, 1989) and an overall championship (1989) at BHS.
"Hixson is such a mastermind of planning out the other team and watching the video and breaking down what offenses and defenses they run,” one of his former players, Charlie Sullivan, once said. “And Ebbs is the guy that is the diciplinarian, the guy that fired everybody up. So it was a real good combination because you had this real smart, academic guy with a great dicipliarian and it melted together real well."
"Ebbs would let Hixson do his thing and tell us the adjustments we need to make at halftime," Sullivan continued. "After Hixson would stop, he would get up and just fire us up...We would be ready to knock the door down getting out of the lockerroom to go get them in the second half."
I’ve covered a number of outstanding coaches over the last 20 years, and none in any sport were better at X’s and O’s than Coach Hixson.
And I don’t remember any that had the connection with the student-athletes that Hixson did. He has a genuine love for his players and vice versa.
Enjoy retirement, Coach. Well-deserved.