Father and son are heading to the Super Bowl
Adam Ferrise
Issue date: 1/31/08 Section: Sports
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Hixon, a kick returner for the Denver Broncos, was referring to Kevin Everett, a member of the Buffalo Bills special teams unit.
During the opening kickoff of the second half, Everett made a solid hit on Hixon. Everett's helmet hit Hixon's shoulder awkwardly. Everett was carted off the field on a stretcher, and it was first thought that the injury could prove fatal. Then they said he would be paralyzed for life.
Everett eventually started walking under his own power in December and made a recovery some called a minor miracle.
Colliding with someone in a freak accident could happen to anyone, but Hixon still took it hard.
As they had done all his life, his parents Marvin and Brigit, would help pick up the pieces. They would watch the news or look on the Internet for updates on Everett's condition and relay the messages to Domenik.
"I'd call and tell him we have everybody praying for him-for both of them," Marvin said. "That was bad. When that happened that was real bad. '"
No doubt that Marvin was also devastated. He had turned his life upside down for his son's athletic career.
When Domenik was about eight or nine years old, Marvin knew he had a special athlete on his hands. At the time, the Hixon's lived in an Army base in Germany, where Marvin was stationed. Domenik dominated any time - and any sport - he played.
"I told my wife, he was something special," Marvin said. "I told her he was going to play something professionally."
Domenik excelled in basketball, soccer and baseball as a child, playing against other kids who lived on the base.
When he was a little older, he played baseball and basketball throughout Germany, Belgium and France.
Finally, when Domenik was 12, Marvin made a decision to move back to the United States so his son would have a chance to play high school sports.
"I would still probably be in Germany, but when he was going into the eighth grade I told my wife we had to go back to the states so he can play sports," he said. "That's the only reason I came back."
They moved to Whitehall, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, before Domenik entered the eighth grade. The following year he played football for Whitehall-Yearling high school on the freshman team, but his mother wouldn't let him play his sophomore year because Hixon had subpar grades.
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