Hart Lee Dykes is a former professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player who played wide receiver

Wide receiver

A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...

 for two seasons for the New England Patriots

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

. He was awarded the Dial Award

Dial Award

For the literary award presented by The Dial magazine in the 1920s, see The Dial.The Dial Award was presented annually by the Dial Corporation to the male and female American high-school athlete/scholar of the year.-Awardees:...

 as the national high school scholar-athlete of the year in 1984. He played two seasons, with his career being cut short when he fractured his kneecap and because of an eye injury which occurred during a bar room fight with teammate Irving Fryar

Irving Fryar

Irving Dale Fryar is a former American football wide receiver of the National Football League.Fryar grew up in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey and played high school football at Rancocas Valley Regional High School...

 in 1990. He was also drafted into the Chicago White Sox

Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...

 minor league system in 1989. As of 2002, Dykes was the owner of a trucking company in Sugar Land, Texas

Sugar Land, Texas

Sugar Land is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. Sugar Land is one of the most affluent and fastest-growing cities in Texas, having grown more than 158 percent in the last decade. In the time period of 2000–2007, Sugar Land also enjoyed a...

.

He is perhaps best remembered for his involvement in NCAA recruiting corruption. Voluntarily dealing with an investigation, he was eventually granted immunity and detailed a bidding war that went on for his services between Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Illinois and Oklahoma State (all of whom ended up on probation). OSU paid him at least $23,000. Once he finally got to OSU, he was a member of a talented offense with Mike Gundy

Mike Gundy

Mike Gundy is an American football coach and former player He is currently the head football coach at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater. Gundy played college football Oklahoma State, where he was the Cowboys quarterback from 1986 to 1989. Gundy became Oklahoma State's coach on January 3, 2005...

 at quarterback, Thurman Thomas and later, Barry Sanders

Barry Sanders

Barry Sanders is a former American football running back who spent all of his professional career with the Detroit Lions in the NFL. Sanders left the game just short of the all-time rushing record...

 at running back.

Dykes was selected in the first round (16th pick) of the 1989 NFL Draft

1989 NFL Draft

The 1989 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24 , 1989...

In two seasons with the Patriots, Dykes caught 83 passes for 1,344 yards and seven touchdowns.