Michael Dywane Jackson Dyson (April 12, 1969 – May 12, 2017) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for eight seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) from 1991 to 1998. He played

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 ...

for the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Miss ...

. Dyson was selected by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

in the sixth round of the

1991 NFL draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott Ma ...

. He played in the NFL for the Browns and the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

. Dyson signed a one-year contract with the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

to play the 1999 season, but was cut at the end of the preseason.

Career

In college, Dyson was teammates with quarterback

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 cons ...

during the 1989 and 1990 seasons. He was an immediate contributor for the

under then head coach

Bill Belichick William Stephen Belichick ( ; born April 16, 1952) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Widely regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he holds numerous coaching records, inc ...

with 3 seasons over 40 catches, 710 yards, and 7 TD. He had a then career-best season in 1993 when he hauled in 41 catches for 756 yards with 8 TD. Between the first two games of the 1993 regular season, he briefly changed his last name to his father's

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

Dyson before reverting to Jackson which was his mother's

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" ...

. The change of heart was the result of having received letters from youngsters who identified with him by his Jackson name. In 1996, Dyson was tied with

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

wide receiver Tony Martin for most receiving touchdowns in the NFL with 14. He also had career highs with 76 catches and 1,201 yards. Jackson was a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

fraternity. He served as mayor of his hometown,

Tangipahoa, Louisiana Tangipahoa is a village in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 425 at the 2020 census. It was named after the Tangipahoa Native American tribe. Tangipahoa is part of the Hammond MSA. Etymology The name Tangipahoa i ...

, from 2009 through 2012. On August 12, 1999, Dyson signed a one-year contract with the

after their star wide receiver

Joey Galloway Joseph Scott Galloway (born November 20, 1971) is an American former professional football player who is an analyst with ESPN. He was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Galloway was selected by the Seattle Seahawks with the ...

continued his holdout. Jackson played in all four preseason games with the Seahawks, catching a 23-yard touchdown against the Cardinals. Dyson was let go on September 6, 1999, in the preseason cut down to the 53-man roster.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Death

Dyson was killed in a motorcycle accident in the early morning hours of May 12, 2017. He was riding his motorcycle at high speed on US 51 in

Tangipahoa The Tangipahoa were a Native American tribe that lived just north of Lake Pontchartrain and between the Pearl River and the Mississippi River. Etymology The name Tangipahoa is derived from the Muskogean words ''(tonche pahoha)'' which translat ...

, Louisiana when he struck the driver side of a vehicle that was backing out of a driveway. The high impact of the collision also killed the driver of the other vehicle, 20-year-old Destiny Alexus Gordon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Michael 1969 births 2017 deaths American football wide receivers Cleveland Browns players Baltimore Ravens players Southern Miss Golden Eagles football players Mayors of places in Louisiana People from Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Players of American football from Louisiana Road incident deaths in Louisiana 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American politicians Motorcycle road incident deaths African-American mayors in Louisiana