Athletic director among those shot at Stoneman Douglas High School

PARKLAND, Fla. _ Marjory Stoneman Douglas athletic director Chris Hixon was among those shot Wednesday at the Parkland high school, assistant athletic director Marilyn Rule confirmed to the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel.

Hixon, 49, was previously South Broward High School's athletic director before taking over at Douglas, according to his Facebook profile.

No details of Hixon's condition were released Wednesday night.

"Chris is such a great guy," said Coral Springs High School athletic director Dan Jacob, who is also the school's wrestling coach, like Hixon is for Douglas. "Chris is probably the nicest guy I have ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back. He does so much. That is terrible that it would happen to anybody. It is so senseless.

"I am crushed. ... I am totally crushed."

Among recent athletic accomplishments the school has had under Hixon, the Eagles' baseball team won a state and national championship in 2016.

Cypress Bay wrestling coach Allen Held was upset Wednesday night. Hixon was Held's athletic director while he coached the Bulldogs from 2000 to 2012. Hixon's wife, Debra, heads up South Broward High School's magnet program.

Held called Hixon a "super human being. The kind of person who would do anything for anyone ..."

"If you needed something he was the first one there. He would do anything as an athletic director to make your program better and he was a better person than athletic director. We used to talk wrestling all of the time and make fun of each other because that's what we do. To me, he was a great friend and a brother in life."

Hixon's father was a wrestling coach at Boyd Anderson and Hixon served as an athletic director at Blanche Ely before going to South Broward.

According to Hixon's Facebook page, he studied at Broward College, lives in Hollywood, Fla., and is from Easton, Pa.

All baseball and lacrosse players and coaches were confirmed safe by their coaches to Sun Sentinel reporter Wells Dusenbury.

Broward Schools announced that Douglas would be closed Thursday and Friday, including all athletic activities. The Eagles had been scheduled to play a girls basketball regional quarterfinal on Thursday night.