FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS 07/17/2020 - ANTONIO DAWSON, CPD

I was thinking that all of the Friday Hall of Famers for July 2020 should be TV police detectives and maybe patrol officers.  But it is a fairly finite group and I have to think of having enough for the Future.  So after this one, we’ll get as far from that category as possible with a couple of League of Themselves inductees.

But for now….

ANTONIO DAWSON

From Wikipedia and two Chicago PD wikis:
Antonio Dawson, portrayed by Jon Seda, is a fictional character in the Chicago franchise and is a main character in ‘Chicago P.D.’ and ‘Chicago Justice’. He was introduced as a recurring character on ‘Chicago Fire’ before the spin-off ‘Chicago P.D.’ was created. He was previously the second in command of the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and regularly appears on ‘Chicago Fire’ as he is the older brother of Gabriela "Gabby" Dawson, formerly a paramedic-turned-firefighter at Firehouse 51.

The character was first introduced in ‘Chicago Fire’ as one of several recurring characters from the CPD who cross paths with the firefighters.

In October 2016 Seda confirmed that the character would move to the third spin-off ‘Chicago Justice’, debuting in March 2017, after resigning from his position in the CPD to take up a job with the State's Attorney's Office. After ‘Chicago Justice’ was cancelled, the character was written to have returned to the CPD due to his frustration with the bureaucratic red tape he often encountered.

Dawson and his wife Laura have two children, Eva and Diego. His wife runs a restaurant which the children help in. However, Dawson's dedication to his job take a toll on their marriage, resulting in her leaving with their two children. They eventually divorce under acrimonious terms and she prevents the children from seeing their father for some time. Eva took it particularly hard and even resorted to running away to see her father.

The custody issue was never fully explained on the show; the children live with their mother and Dawson keeps in touch with them by phone.

Dawson was raised Catholic and once quipped to Olinsky about being "in a confessional every other day" as a boy. A boxing enthusiast (like actor Jon Seda), he had a difficult adolescence and boxing was his outlet, as shown by the fact that he runs his own gym and moonlights as a trainer when off duty. He is the older brother of ‘Chicago Fire’ character Gabriela "Gabby" Dawson. The siblings come from a large extended family and share a close relationship.  (He is supposedly ten years her senior.)

The character is frequently seen on ‘Chicago Fire’ and was first introduced in the episode "Professional Courtesy" after Gabby and her colleagues from Firehouse 51 rescue a boy and his father in a car accident caused by a drunk Justin Voight, Hank's son. He is generally well liked by the firefighters at 51.

Before transferring to Intelligence, Dawson worked on the Vice Squad. He was partnered with Detective Julie "Jules" Willhite, with whom he shared a close friendship, until she was killed by drug lord Andres "Pulpo".

Antonio joined the CPD at a young age and after passing the academy, had Trudy Platt as his Field Training Officer. He then pulled Platt out of the line of fire when she was shot during a shootout.

Dawson soon showed his abilities to ranking officers and was quickly assigned to the VICE unit and worked with them for a few years before transferring.

Hank Voight recruited Dawson into the Intelligence Section after he was arrested by him and saw that he was a determined and honest police officer. Dawson and Voight had somewhat of a strained partnership through the first few seasons, but soon they figured out how to work together.

Antonio resigned from the CPD after receiving a job offer from Peter Stone. Dawson was offered to join the State Attorney's Office as a Chief Investigator. His partner investigator is Laura Nagel.

However, he took Voight up on the offer to come back, because he felt the job he did at the Office was "boring".

After returning, Antonio is paired with Kim Burgess. He got a new car - a Ford Fusion titanium.

Antonio carried a Glock 17, but was seen often switching between a shoulder holster and a standard belt holster; since Season 6 same thing.

Antonio's badge number was 50259.

According to Voight, Antonio was going to be in the Olympics for boxing prior to the series.  This is further implemented into his character in how he owns a training gym.

Dawson's radio code is 5021 Frank.

Antonio's character is known as the crossover king in the Chicago series, being that he started as a recurring character on Fire then a main character on PD and a main character on Justice. Not to mention an episode on Law and Order SVU.
Here are the reasons why Antonio Dawson is being inducted into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame….

2012-2019
Chicago Fire
47 episodes

2014-2019
Chicago P.D.
115 episodes

2016
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
- Nationwide Manhunt (2016)

2017Chicago Justice
13 episodes

Welcome to the Hall, Detective Dawson!

You’ve got a lot of fans out there who wish you’d come back, but as far as the TVXOHOF is concerned, you’ve earned a place here and you can rest on your laurels.