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Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN
ORCHARD PARK, NY – While the Buffalo Bills have spent the past 25 years without hosting an NFL playoff game, Valentino Dixon has held most of them captive for a crime he did not commit.
Dixon, a big fan of Bills, missed most of the Super Bowl runs in the 1990s and the most recent home game in 1996.
Bills sending Taiwan Jones back ensure Dixon will not miss the next one.
After it was announced that Bills Stadium would open for the first time all season, Jones donated Dixon tickets for the Bills’ game card game Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts. It’s the latest in a series of highlights in Dixon’s life since he was released in 2018 and released from prison after serving 27 years at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York.
Dixon, 51, who was raised in Buffalo’s East Side, was arrested in 1991 and convicted of murder, despite no physical evidence linking him to the crime. While in prison, Dixon turned to art and drew thousands of photos of golf courses, despite never having played the game, even though his story and his artwork were published by Golf Digest.
A group of undergraduate students at Georgetown University made a documentary about Dixon’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment, which eventually led to his release.
Jones first became aware of Dixon’s story at the start of the 2020 season. He wanted to do something for him, but with the COVID-19 protocols of the state of New York and Erie County restricting which businesses were open most of the year, it was difficult for him to figure out exactly how he could reach him.
“I was already emotionally just with everything going on in the world,” Jones said. “I reached out to different organizations in Buffalo to see what I could do to make a difference. When I first read his story, it was poignant and heartbreaking. I definitely wanted to do something for him.”
The stalwart of the Bills special teams came in contact with Dixon and said he was surprised by the attitude of a man who has every reason to be angry with the world.
“When he called, it was like talking to an old friend. Our conversation was genuine,” Jones said. “I think what struck me most was that he had no resentment in him. He sounded like he was just really happy with where his life is today. I was just as amazed at where he is emotionally and mentally.
“He definitely showed a lot of character of who he is because he’s just a happy guy. He did not know me or what I was going to do for him and he just had so much enthusiasm. I was glad to be able to do something to make him happy. ‘
Jones, 32, shared the content of their conversation with his teammates, including 27-year-old wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who, like Jones, struggled to spend so much time behind bars for a crime someone did not commit.
Dixon told ESPN he “refuses” to be broken by his time in jail.
“I had to stay that way – I mean, I was born that way,” Dixon told ESPN. “The prison was designed to break my spirit, and I refused to let that happen. I encouraged the others to keep hanging on there.”
While in prison, Dixon’s love for the bills never wavered, nor did his passion for football. He said he played in Attica’s soccer league for 20 years and won five championships.
He said the ties to the game made it a dream to hear from Jones.
“In prison, there are only a few of us who are really good, so I had my sense,” Dixon told ESPN. ‘I would just tell them to throw it up, I’ll run under it and get it. I would usually leave guys 5 to 10 meters behind – at 41 [years old], I was still the fastest one in that team. I was the Jerry Rice of that league. ‘
Dixon’s second straight game on Saturday will be a preseason game at the age of 11. As a downtown kid, Dixon calls the experience ‘something you will never forget’ and one he has held for the past 40 years. .
This match will be unique as the bills only allow 6,772 fans in the nearly 71,000-seat stadium. It will not be the full game day experience, but as Dixon puts it, “anything is better than a 6-by-8 cell.”
“This team here, I know they can beat anyone,” he said. “They could have beaten anyone last year, but they just weren’t ready. Now’s the time. And I have no doubt a Super Bowl is going to come to Buffalo, if it’s not this year, then the next three years.
“If we come to play hard, there is not a team on this planet that can beat Buffalo.”