Dwayne Nix (born October 10, 1946) is an American former

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player and

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

officer. He was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

in 2003. He played in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

championship game. Nix played for the Texas A&M Kingsville Javelinas and was named to the Associated Press Little All-America squads three times, in 1966, 1967 and 1968. After graduation, he served in the

as a helicopter pilot, in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, initially flying

Bell UH-1 Huey The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helico ...

s. In 1974 he went to work for

Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, United States as well as commercial heli ...

and later NAVAIR in Iran, before being evacuated in 1979. That year he was named to the Kingsville Javelina Hall of Fame. In 1981 he returned to the Marine Corps. Nix remained with the Marine Corps as a reserve officer for 23 years, serving in the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

during that time. In 2003, Nix retired from the Marine Corps reserves as a colonel where he served as the Assistant Deputy Director, Operations Division in the Plans, Programs and Operations Department at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 2016, Nix was named to the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor.

References

External links

* 1946 births Living people American football tight ends Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel of the Gulf War United States Marine Corps reservists Sportspeople from Kingsville, Texas Players of American football from Texas Military personnel from Texas {{collegefootball-player-stub