Billy Cannon

Dr. Billy Cannon was one of the most celebrated and recognizable college football players in NCAA history and played a major role in the rise of big-time football at LSU. Born in Mississippi and raised in Baton Rouge, he won the 1959 Heisman Memorial Trophy as a halfback and led the Tigers to the 1958 national championship. LSU retired his No. 20 jersey in 1959, and he was later inducted into the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. A two-time All-American and SEC Player of the Year, he combined speed and strength, also excelling in track and field as an SEC champion sprinter who ran the 100-yard dash in 9.5 and competed in the shot put with a mark of 57-4. At 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, he had the size to overpower opponents. He emerged as a standout as a sophomore in 1957 and, as a junior in 1958, drove LSU's perfect 10-0 national championship season. In LSU's 7-0 Sugar Bowl victory over Clemson, he passed for a touchdown and kicked the extra point to earn MVP honors. His most famous moment came on Halloween Night 1959 in Tiger Stadium, when with LSU trailing Ole Miss 3-0 early in the fourth quarter, he fielded a punt at the LSU 11, broke seven tackles, and returned it 89 yards for the winning touchdown in a 7-3 victory, a play regarded as the most storied in LSU football history and one that helped secure his Heisman Trophy. During his three-year LSU career from 1957 to 1959, he rushed for 1,867 yards on 359 carries and scored 24 touchdowns, caught 32 passes for 522 yards and two touchdowns, returned 31 punts for 349 yards and 21 kickoffs for 616 yards, punted 111 times, and intercepted seven passes. He then played 11 years in professional football, the first 10 in the American Football League, helping the Houston Oilers win AFL titles in 1961 and 1962 and helping the Oakland Raiders reach Super Bowl II. He earned his D.D.S. at the University of Tennessee and a master's degree at Loyola University in Chicago, then worked for more than 20 years as Director of Dentistry at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, where patients called him "Legend." Cannon and his wife, Dorothy Dupuy Cannon, raised five children, and he credited his LSU success to his teammates, saying, "It's all about the team, and if the team is successful, then you'll have your day in the sun."

Baton Rouge, Louisiana · United States