As we continue our Father's Day series, Georgia State softball assistant coach Erin Dixon talks about her special relationship with her dad and grandfather.
Father's Day this year is a little more special than others as I got to come home and surprise my dad which I typically never get to do. It's really exciting because my dad is my best friend and it's been that way since I was very young. My dad was my coach my entire life, so from a very young age I clung to him and the bond that athletics gave us. Buffalo is a big sports town, so we love to watch the Bills, the Sabres, the Buffalo Bison's, and my Papa taught me to love the Yankees, although my dad is a Dodgers fan – Papa wouldn't let that kind of nonsense happen to me.
Playing tournaments down south opened my eyes to an entirely different way of living – no snow. When I was about 14 years old, I started talking heavily about leaving Buffalo, and my dad made sure nothing was going to stop that. Buffalo can be a tough city, it's the definition of Blue-Collar America. My dad is from Niagara Falls which is an even tougher city, so my dad made sure that I was going to use my athletics ability to leave and experience something else. I'll never forget the day I wanted to back out of leaving, I was grasping for excuses because I was so scared and he looked to me and said, "You need to leave home. You need to go get an education somewhere else. If someone else can pay your way, and you can travel on someone else's dime, you'd be crazy not to take that." That was the day that this whole journey started - eight years later I've lived in five different states, attended three different institutions academically, and two different institutions professionally.
My dad has always pushed me to follow my dreams even if it means I'm being pushed further away from him. On average we typically have lived about 1,000 miles apart. Unfortunately, he and my mom could only attend about four weekends in my college career but have never missed a game if there was a live feed/stats. I'm not sure how he went from watching every one of my athletic successes from the third base coaches' box, to sitting in a chair watching a live feed, but he did it flawlessly without me ever feeling guilty. Now as a coach, they make sure to come to at least one home series. They love softball and find so much enjoyment out of following my athletes. I remember when I told them I was coming to Georgia State they memorized the roster, and they asked me about my pitchers, to which he first asks, "how do their change-ups look?" They love my location though I will admit. Living in Atlanta, this is the closest I've lived to my family in eight years and I love it. Roger thinks I'm crazy because it's still about 900 miles apart – but that's only about a 13-hour ride if I needed to get home – last year it was 21 hours.
I get pretty choked up when I talk about what my father truly means to me. Without his unconditional love, support and Facetime calls – I wouldn't be where I am. My father is one of the most patient men I know – dealing with such a strong personality in me and having two other sisters who are just as strong. He's the girl dad that has raised us to be confident, determined and ethical, which is what I credit all my success to. I'd be a fool to not acknowledge that without my papa raising my father into the man he is, life could be very different. My papa and I were as thick as thieves, so it's hard not having him physically here with us anymore. What is wonderful though is that my dad shares so many of the same mannerisms as my papa that when I see those similarities, I know he's still with us. I'm feeling incredibly grateful this Father's Day, and I can't wait to get to spend it with my Dad!
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