In a resonant conversation, Marine veteran and local advisor Johnny Dawson opened up about the release of johnn(y)ie: a memoir of conquering the modern-day goliath, a collaborative memoir co-authored with former Ohio State wide receiver Johnnie Dixon. The title itself, stylized to highlight the shared name “Johnny/Johnnie,” signals a layered story of two men from vastly different worlds confronting the same internal and generational giants.
Dawson was born in Columbus but spent his early youth in Butcher Holler, Kentucky. Those years were shaped almost entirely by a volatile father figure, whom Dawson describes as “an outlaw, not a criminal,” who once took him on a drive that ended in what Johnny can only describe as a shotgun shooting. That memory of trauma (and the silent image of cattails swaying in the headlights) became the metaphor and opening chapter for the memoir.
While Johnnie Dixon’s path took him through the elite structures (Ohio State) and physical grind of preparing for a professional football career, Dawson’s escape from generational poverty and addiction came through the United States Marine Corps. He enlisted the very day of his high school graduation and was deployed to Iraq in 2004, serving in Anbar Province and participating in the first Battle of Fallujah. Dawson described daily mortar fire, booby-trapped roads, and the moral injury of losing friends in combat and children in war zones. Particularly remarkable were Dawson’s series of encounters with a young Iraqi boy named Mohammed, who led them to a massive weapons cache and was later murdered by insurgents for doing so.
As feelings grew that the mission had lost focus and purpose Johnny returned stateside and enrolled at Ohio State, but his transition was fraught. He self-isolated, drank heavily, got into fights, and nearly ended his life - stopped only by the quiet, persistent companionship of his dog, Rocky. His own spiritual reckoning began when his now-wife Bora, then pregnant with their son Maddox, gave him an ultimatum: come to church or lose your family. He chose church, and with it, a slow path back to a more peaceful life.
Through a growing faith and eventual work with Cypress Wesleyan, Dawson wrote a 12-week Bible study for men wrestling with trauma. That project laid the groundwork for johnn(y)ie, which he and Dixon shaped by comparing their vastly different lives and recognizing mirrored battles: mental health, poverty, and what Dawson calls “generational curses.”
“We internalize who our parents are,” Dawson said. “Until one day, we make a choice to be something different.”
For Dawson, writing the book was about vulnerability, honesty, and reaching others who might find themselves lost after a mission ends.
Music and Production by Tim Hofmann at Franklin Street Studios (doot-dah-doot-dah doooo)
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