Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Dixon Funeral

Dixon Funeral: About 1,200 mourners attended Maggie Dixon's funeral in Los Angeles, five days after the 28-year-old Army women's basketball coach died.

Dixon, was the coach of the U.S. Military Academy's women's basketball team and sister of Pitt men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon.

She died of an arrhythmic heart episode, but don’t know what caused it.

Dr. Christopher Bonnett, head of electrophysiology at Allegheny General Hospital, says most people who get arrhythmias are older and have had heart attacks and weakened heart muscles.

“But in my field, it’s not unusual to see young healthy people just suddenly have a short circuit where the rhythm goes fast, they pass out from a lack of blood flow to the brain and if not resuscitated, they die suddenly,” he explained.

Dixon collapsed Wednesday at West Point. That morning, she had breakfast with her brother, Jamie, had a meeting with the athletic director at West Point and had tea with a friend.

She was hired a few weeks before the season began, and led the Black Knights to their first NCAA tournament appearance last month.

Maggie and Jamie are believed to have been the first brother and sister to have coached in the NCAA tournament in the same year.

Dixon says Maggie seemed fine when they had breakfast together Wednesday, but at a friend's house at West Point that afternoon, she said she wasn't feeling well and collapsed.

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