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When Derrick Nix was announced Wednesday as the latest addition to the Ole Miss coaching staff, football fans harkened back to images of a star running back at Southern Miss churning out 1,000-yard seasons.
For many in the Ole Miss community, the name Derrick Nix represents more.
A member of the USM “Team of the Century,” Nix turned in one of the best freshman seasons in NCAA history with 1,180 yards in 1998 and was the first Golden Eagle ever to reach the 1,000-yard plateau in each of his freshman and sophomore campaigns.
Entering his junior year in 2000 as one of the nation’s top backs, Nix was off to a third-straight outstanding season when he suffered an ankle sprain in the Memphis game. Complications from a reaction to medication resulted in kidney problems that kept him out for nearly a year and a half.
Nix was back on the field in Hattiesburg in 2002 for a stellar final season in the Black and Gold. He amassed 1,194 yards and 11 touchdowns and became the first player in Conference USA history to rush for 1,000 yards or more in three seasons.
However, while his Southern Miss teammates were preparing for the Houston Bowl in December, Nix was diagnosed with a degenerative kidney condition that was much more severe than previously evidenced on the biopsy nearly two years prior. Nix began undergoing hemodialysis three times a week with the long-term goal for a transplant.
“I’m almost at a loss for words,” said then-USM head coach Jeff Bowers on Dec. 20, 2002. “I guess you can say he’s fighting for his life, and all we can do is support him. We’ll do that every way we can, say our prayers for him, and hope for the best.
“Here’s a guy who, after three games, was a possible first round NFL draft pick. He is a guy who played with courage and was just never completely healthy. Now, we find out just what he pushed through, and just how tough he really is.”
With medical bills piling up for Nix and his family, the Ole Miss faithful felt the desire to help the Attalla, Ala., native, and in January 2003, the “Rebels for Nix Fund” was created.
With her husband, Ole Miss law professor and faculty athletics representative Robert Weems, Janis Weems first approached Chancellor Robert Khayat about aid for the ailing running back, and Khayat immediately took action.
“Members of the Ole Miss community remember how other colleges and universities across the country pulled together to help one of our athletes, Chucky Mullins, when the need arose,” said Khayat after establishing the fund. “They feel an obligation to do the same for a sister school’s athlete.”
Roy Lee “Chucky” Mullins, a player on the 1989 Rebels football team, was paralyzed from an injury during a game against Vanderbilt. Mullins returned to the classroom in January 1991 but died four months later of respiratory failure.
Nix’s story has a much different ending. With Rebel fans contributing over $26,000, Nix underwent successful kidney transplant surgery on the morning of June 6, 2003, with a kidney donation from his oldest brother, Marcus.
“You really don’t know what you mean to people until something like this happens,” said Derrick Nix following the surgery. “You hate for it to happen, but for people to do all the things they did for me, all the kind words, cards, and so forth, that’s something that can’t be measured. It is something that meant a lot to me and something that I can’t repay.”
For the Ole Miss family, payment enough is seeing Nix standing on a sideline, particularly their own.
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