By RYAN GRIFFITHSSome stories stick with you longer than others. First time you get to do a feature. First time you meet a sports legend (it was Allen Iverson for me). Seeing a championship isnt bad, either. Been there, done that. Lawnmower museum on the east coast of England, tsunami survivors in California, re-connecting Al Geiberger with his lost 59 tape, all good, but no story or environment has stuck with me like going to Attica Correctional Facility in 2013 to tell the story of Valentino Dixon.For starters, Id never been searched before setting up for an interview. Not just me, everyone - all three cameramen, Jimmy Roberts, the guy escorting us in who worked there. Everyone. Attica trusts no one. Cant blame them after 1971, when inmates protesting living conditions took members of the prison staff hostage. The ensuing police response left 29 inmates and 10 hostages dead.Attica has a "shank wall," a collection of homemade weapons seized from inmates and displayed like baseball cards in a plastic case on the wall outside the guards' lunchroom. Prison interior decorating at its finest. Nice touch.We went to do a story on an inmate who was introduced to the world in a Golf Digest article by Max Adler in 2012. "The golf artist who had never stepped foot on a golf course - Valentino Dixon.: He was in for murder. Second degree. You know, your standard golf story.
Wrongfully imprisoned man freed after nearly three decades
Dixon, a former aspiring artist before getting caught up in the Buffalo drug-dealing scene, started sketching photos from Golf Digest for the warden. Ive never been to prison, but from what I have gathered from watching The Shawshank Redemption some 8,000 times, getting in the wardens good graces is a smart habit to pick up if youre doing serious time.Dixon's art was insanely good. Even more so because he did it all with colored pencils. No paintbrushes allowed (see shank wall above). Jimmy, the crew and I stopped for a good 10-15 minutes to marvel at his creations before continuing with the interview.We spent a solid 40 minutes talking to the man who supposedly killed a man 20-something years prior. In that time, he pleaded his innocence to us over and over again. He spoke like a man who had rehearsed every angle of his story over and over and over again. I give him credit - there were no holes in his story. I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, and he didnt look like a killer, didnt sound like one. either. But what did I know? Id never met one - that I know of. And if you were stuck in prison for 20-plus years and all of a sudden had a camera in front of you and a platform to plead your innocence, wouldnt you do your best to try to get out of there?Since the guards wouldnt allow any food, the crew and I stopped at the first deli we saw on the ride back into Buffalo. After we were done eating, we all looked at each other, knowing what we all were thinking: "Do you think he did it?Didnt matter what we thought, we were just there to tell the story. On Wednesday, however, people whose opinions mattered made a decision and allowed someone who loves the game of golf, but has never stepped foot on a golf course, to do just that if he so chooses. That's a story that will stick with him for the rest of his life.
Inside Attica: Interviewing Valentino Dixon | Golf Channel
Inside Attica: Interviewing Valentino Dixon. BY Golf Channel Digital — September 19, 2018 at 10:00 PM. In 2013 Golf Channel senior producer Ryan Griffiths and a crew visited Attica Correctional
Valentino Dixon's Redemption - Golf Digest
Born on October 20, 1969, Valentino Dixon grew up in downtown Buffalo. As his mother's only son, Valentino was raised with two step-brothers from his step-father's prior marriage. As a child, Valentino was a gifted artist who loved to draw. At the time of his arrest in 1990, Valentino's daughter, Valentina, was six months old.
In 2013 Golf Channel senior producer Ryan Griffiths and a crew visited Attica Correctional Facility to interview Valentino Dixon. Griffiths shares his memories of that day.
Inside Attica: Interviewing Valentino Dixon | Todays Sports News
Inside Attica: Interviewing Valentino Dixon. Share this post. Inside Attica: Interviewing Valentino Dixon. Source: Golf Channel Published on 2018-09-20
Valentino Dixon's golf drawings helped him escape wrongful
Inside Attica: Interviewing Valentino Dixon "You are eligible for release today," the judge said, igniting applause and shouts from courtroom supporters. "Mr. Dixon is not an innocent man. Don't be misguided in that at all," Erie County District Attorney John Flynn told reporters after the hearing.
'27 Years: The Exoneration of Valentino Dixon' | Golf Channel
An escape. But no one escapes Alcatraz, or in Dixon's case, Attica, which served as home for most of his life. "It's got to be one of the worst prisons in the country," Dixon tells the camera in "27 Years: The Exoneration of Valentino Dixon," which airs Tuesday night on the Golf Channel.
Convicted New York killer Valentino Dixon draws golf art
Valentino Dixon doesn't look like a man about to turn 50. Maybe it's his wrinkle-less face. Maybe it's his body, which any 30-year-old would be proud of. Maybe it's his unfettered smile
The story of Valentino Dixon, the golfer wrongly accused of
ATTICA, N.Y. (AP) - Valentino Dixon's colored pencil drawings evoke carefree days on the links, dewy greens, open spaces, fresh air enlivened by flowers and crisply trimmed fairways. But the
Convicted NY killer Valentino Dixon's golf art masks caged
(Louise Piromalli is an Australian who met Dixon after finding his art on the Internet. They were married in the Attica cafeteria in 2002.) The bit of income helped Dixon's reputation inside Attica.
Inside Attica: Interviewing Valentino Dixon | Glendale Golf
Attica Correctional Facility inmate Valentino Dixon poses with his golf art he creates in prison in Attica, N.Y., Thursday, May 16, 2013. While serving a 39-year-to-life sentence for a murder he
His Story — Valentino Dixon
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