Ask N.C. A&T football players about their team and they’ll agree, is like one big family. That’s why the news of linebacker Herbert Dixon being shot to death during spring break spread quickly among the players.

When the players returned to campus the following Monday, head football coach George Small called a meeting and informed the team that Dixon’s surviving blood relatives lacked the resources to give Dixon a proper burial.

With the senior members of the team taking the initiative, Dixon’s football family immediately went to work. Team members began taking turns manning tables and booths around the campus between classes to raise money for the Dixon family.

“His family was mainly his grandfather,” senior linebacker Shaun Jones said. “His grandfather raised him. He (Herbert) has an 11-month old son and they don’t have any insurance, so we’re trying to raise money to pay for his funeral to bury him in a way that would be respectful as an Aggie,” Jones said.

In the downstairs lobby of Williams Cafeteria, Dixon’s gold number 33 jersey hung off the edge of a table where four football players sat. In front of them were two jars with Dixon’s picture and the words “Help us bury our teammate” scribbled in pencil. In the middle of the table, a Nike shoebox quickly started to fill with dollar bills.

“It’s just been a great way for the football team to come together for this tragic cause,” freshman Curtis Walls said.

By the mid-morning of March 17, without the help of mainstream radio and television outlets, the team had raised hundreds of dollars. Even more noteworthy, the primary contributors to the fundraiser are cash-strapped college students. They are the generation that can check their credit score online and know their financial standing in a snap.

“I just want to thank the student body, because they have truly meant a great deal to us these past couple of days,” Walls said.

“We didn’t have to do a whole lot of begging. We just put up the sign and people started coming and they didn’t even know Herb. It’s really being appreciated,” he said.

Walls said the team hoped to set up additional tables and places to donate around campus before the end of the week.

Jones was a senior on the team and was Dixon’s mentor. He said any money students or faculty could spare would help.

“We’ll be here in the cafeteria until Friday,” Jones said. “We’re just trying to raise as much money as we can.”

• Chad Roberts