University of Tulsa Recognizes Becky Dixon During National Girls & Women in Sports Day
The University of Tulsa’s 2021 National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) was held Feb. 3 during the Tulsa-Houston women’s basketball game at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Becky Dixon, a pioneer in TV sports for women, is this year’s NGWSD award winner. Dixon was one of the country’s first female sports anchors.
NGWSD is a national observance that celebrates the extraordinary achievements of women and girls in sports.
Dixon, a 1973 TU graduate, began her groundbreaking career in broadcasting at KTUL-TV in Tulsa, where she served as one of the country’s first female sports anchors. In just six years, she was hired by ABC Sports and became the first woman to host a network sports show when she joined Frank Gifford as co-host of ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Dixon also served as a broadcaster for the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, World Gymnastics Championships, college football, and the Triple Crown of Horse Racing. She also co-hosted the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Show.
She later returned to Tulsa and founded Dixon Productions, launching the television special “Oklahomans.” The show was the first statewide broadcast of its kind and for more than two decades was instrumental in promoting and celebrating the achievements of Oklahomans.
In 1994, Dixon joined forces with communications pioneer Ed Taylor to form AyerPlay. The company broke new ground on the Internet with one of the nation’s first live webcasts, as Dixon co-hosted a World Aids Day Symposium, in conjunction with Harvard University. Today, Dixon is owner and president of AyerPlay, as the company focuses on providing integrated marketing and communications services to 7,000 clients nationwide.
Throughout her career, Dixon has received a number of honors and awards for her work. In 2016, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, receiving her state’s highest honor. She also received the Saidie Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Women in Communications and the Katie Award from the Press Club of Dallas, Texas. She is also a member of the University of Tulsa Communications Hall of Fame.
Over the years, Dixon has been very involved in her local community of Tulsa, as well as the state of Oklahoma. She is currently serving as Arts Alliance Tulsa campaign chair, was recently chairman of EDGE, one of Philbrook Museum’s major fundraising events, and was named honorary chairman for the YWCA Women of the Year Pinnacle Awards. Dixon also has served on a number of boards of directors, including the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Sutton Avian Research Center and the Pencil Box. She was also the former communications chair for the Tulsa Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women.
Dixon lives in Tulsa with her husband, Patrick Keegan and has two grown children, Jennifer and Dan.
