Dickson was born in Illinois on October 22, 1903 and attended Hyde Park High School in Chicago.

He enrolled at the University of Chicago where he played college football and basketball and competed in the high jump from 1921 to 1924.

[4] During the 1924–25 academic years, Dickson worked as an assistant football and baseball coach at the University of Minnesota.

In 1940, Campbell resigned his position at Michigan to become dean of students at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.

[15] In 1943, Campbell left academia to join the United States Army as a captain in the government division.