BILLY CANNON
Half Back 1957-59
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
* Won the Heisman Trophy and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award in 1959
* Two-time All-America (Unanimous in 1958 and Consensus in 1959)
* Associated Press and United Press International Back of Year in 1958
* Rushed for 1,867 yards, 19 touchdowns and amassed 965 yards in punt/kick returns during his LSU career
Billy Cannon was the do-everything, hometown sensation, a later version of SMU’s Doak Walker. The all-purpose stars both won the Heisman Trophy, but played a decade and a few hundred miles apart. The major difference?
Cannon’s otherwise brilliant career is often defined by one play, “The Run,” on Oct. 31, 1959, at Tiger Stadium - an 89-yard punt return that allowed the top-ranked Tigers to beat No. 3 Ole Miss, 7-3 on Halloween night. Former LSU coach Paul Dietzel, says he describes his reaction to Cannon fielding the punt, “Billy, No-No-No, ….to Billy, Go-Go-Go.”
“We had a rule you were not supposed to field a punt over your head or if it goes (deep, inside the 15),” Cannon said. “I went to the 11 and caught in on the bounce. It was a perfect bounce. Ole Miss had an All-American quarterback, who was their punter, Jake Gibbs. I did break a few tackles….I had broken into clear and was looking straight at Gibbs. I gave him a head bob and went to the sidelines. He rocked back on his heels. The rest was just trying to outrun the cameraman and the referee.”
But here’s where Cannon showed his versatility on defense. Ole Miss drove right back down the field, but LSU held on fourth down. Cannon was in on a game-saving tackle with teammate Warren Rabb on the one-yard line.
“When we got to goal line on defense, we would play a Gap Eight,” said Dietzel, who also has authored a new book, Call Me Coach. “It was an eight-man front. He was the middle man. He was a linebacker. He normally was a safety. He was just an outstanding player. One of things people did not understand about Billy, he was very, very strong. He could bench press more weight than anybody at that time.”
An equally defining and possibly even more important play was in the Sugar Bowl as a junior, when Cannon’s halfback option pass beat Clemson, 7-0, capping a perfect 11-0 season and national title in 1958.
“I had thrown the run pass six or seven times that year,” Cannon said. “All of the films they saw of us, those they hadn’t seen. I threw it out of the pocket. I had two receivers standing in the end zone and nobody was around them. Over the years, Scotty McClain has told me, ‘Hell, I was more open than Mangham (Mickey, another end, who caught the pass).’ That has gone on for 50 years. It was a perfect pass, just a perfect spiral. One guy thought they could fair catch it.”
During Cannon’s career, the Tigers were 20-2 his final two seasons and at one point had a 19-game winning streak. Before he started playing, the Tigers had suffered through three straight losing seasons.
“Looking back over 50 years, I came to a program totally down, we had great success and great fun and got a great education,” said Cannon, 70, currently head of dentistry at Louisiana State Prison in Angola. “A lot of those players are still active…elected officials, lawyers, judges..…Being with those guys for four years is a wonderful thing to look back on. Those were great days.”
A 1960 first round AFL Draft pick, he played 11 seasons in the pros with the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs.
The 2008 Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted at the NFF’s Annual Awards Dinner, held at New York City’s historic Waldorf=Astoria Hotel on Tuesday, December 9. The National Hall of Fame Salute at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl follows on January 5, giving the class recognition on a national stage, and events culminate with the College Football Hall of Fame’s Enshrinement Festival in South Bend, Ind., July 17-18.
The 2008 class includes Troy Aikman (UCLA), Billy Cannon (LSU), Jim Dombrowski (UVA), Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern), Wilber Marshall (Florida), Rueben Mayes (Washington State), Randall McDaniel (ASU), Don McPherson (Syracuse), Jay Novacek (Wyoming), Dave Parks (Texas Tech), Ron Simmons (Florida State), Thurman Thomas (Oklahoma State), Arnold Tucker (Army), Coach John Cooper (Tulsa, ASU, Ohio State) and Coach Lou Holtz (William & Mary, NC State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, South Carolina). To purchase tickets to attend the 2008 NFF Annual Awards Dinner, please contact NFF Director of National Events Will Rudd at wrudd@footballfoundation.com or via telephone at 972-556-1000.
