Heisman Trophy Winner Billy Cannon Dead At 80...

[selmaborntidefan]

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_224bd95c-5c3e-11e8-9bac-cf3f9cfeeca8.html


Billy Cannon, Louisiana State University's former running back and only Heisman Trophy winner, died in his home early Sunday, the university announced. He was 80.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Re: Heisman Trophy Winner Billy Cannon Dead At 90

I typed 80 fwiw.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Re: Heisman Trophy Winner Billy Cannon Dead At 90

I typed 80 fwiw.

I looked at that and wondered, since he was in school at the same time I was...

 

[kyallie]

Re: Heisman Trophy Winner Billy Cannon Dead At 90

Billy Cannon, LSU's only Heisman Trophy winner, dies at age 80

 

[AlexanderFan]

Not a bad run, pun intended. Prayers and thoughts for his family.


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[Moro Creek]

Remember his run against Ole Miss. He was a great player. RIP Billy. May God keep your family in his loving care.

 

[GrayTide]

My first college football hero. I will always remember him. RIP Billy Cannon.

 

[Tideflyer]

The Halloween Run. Probably the most storied single play in LSU history (?). RIP, Mr. Cannon.

 

[NationalTitles18]

RIP, Dr Cannon.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

The first game Coach Bryant coached was at Ladd Stadium against LSU with Cannon. We actually led 3-0 at halftime, because we couldn't score a TD from their 5, against Dietzel's Chinese Bandit 3rd string. In the second half, Cannon was inexorable. The final was 13-3 (they missed a PAT), but the game wasn't much in doubt. The main oddity in the game was the north end zone bleachers collapsed with about 1500 people on them. The first we suspected was swarms of ambulances arriving and converging on that area. It was a wonder that no one was killed and only a couple dozen or so injured badly enough to go to the ER...

 

[UAH]

My first college football hero. I will always remember him. RIP Billy Cannon.

Obviously he was mythical as a college player but we saw more of him on TV as a Houston Oiler during the early years of the AFL. He was an extraordinary running back and receiver out of the backfield who helped fill the stands and win TV audiences for the new league.

 

[bama61]

The first game Coach Bryant coached was at Ladd Stadium against LSU with Cannon. We actually led 3-0 at halftime, because we couldn't score a TD from their 5, against Dietzel's Chinese Bandit 3rd string. In the second half, Cannon was inexorable. The final was 13-3 (they missed a PAT), but the game wasn't much in doubt. The main oddity in the game was the north end zone bleachers collapsed with about 1500 people on them. The first we suspected was swarms of ambulances arriving and converging on that area. It was a wonder that no one was killed and only a couple dozen or so injured badly enough to go to the ER...

Earle, like you I was at that game and happened to look in that direction just in time to see the temporary bleachers in the north endzone go down. Fortunately it was a slow collapse and many folks were able to jump off or at least keep their legs from being caught between the collapsing rows. As you said, remarkably few were badly injured. The game was close land I actually believe that a large portion of the crowd were never really aware of what had happened. Can you imagine the splash on national media such a happening would have today?

As for Cannon, to me he was the difference maker in the game. A big back for that era and very fast. Also if my memory is correct, Bryant only dressed something like 38 players for that game, three of whom were ultimately redshirted. Attrition over the spring practice period through the preseason was horrendous as Coach Bryant deliberately attempted to run off those that couldn't or wouldn't play his style of football. His approach was pretty much the same as it had been at both Kentucky and Texas A&M with the exception that the NCAA had outlawed the off-campus camps that he used at those schools, so he simply did the much the same thing on campus.

 

[gtowntide]

Billy Cannon RIP.

 

[CajunCrimson]

The first LSU hero. No counterfeits allowed

 

[FitToBeTide]

A great Tigah who was quite the overcomer. If you've got a few minutes, read some of the highlights of his career/life in this Wiki link. CLICK

Really talented athlete. RIP, Billy.

 

[CajunCrimson]

A great Tigah who was quite the overcomer. If you've got a few minutes, read some of the highlights of his career/life in this Wiki link. CLICK

Really talented athlete. RIP, Billy.

Despite a successful practice, by 1983 he was in financial difficulties from bad real estate investments and gambling debts.[89] Becoming involved in a counterfeiting scheme, he printed $6 million in U.S. 100-dollar bills, some of which he stored in ice chests buried in the back yard of a house he owned and rented out.[54][90][91] Charged along with five others, he served two-and-a-half years of a five-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana.[53] Upon his release in 1986, he regained his dentistry license but struggled to rebuild his practice.[38] In 1995, he was hired as a dentist at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, initially as a contractor. At the time, the dental clinic in the prison was in chaos; many dentists refused to work there and inmates were often unable to make appointments.[38] Cannon reorganized the dental program with great success and was soon hired as a full-time employee.[92] Warden Burl Cain, impressed with Cannon's work with the dental program, put him in charge of the prison's entire medical system.[38] Cannon remained the resident dentist at the penitentiary, where inmates typically call him "Legend".[38][93]A

The legend

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Earle, like you I was at that game and happened to look in that direction just in time to see the temporary bleachers in the north endzone go down. Fortunately it was a slow collapse and many folks were able to jump off or at least keep their legs from being caught between the collapsing rows. As you said, remarkably few were badly injured. The game was close land I actually believe that a large portion of the crowd were never really aware of what had happened. Can you imagine the splash on national media such a happening would have today?

As for Cannon, to me he was the difference maker in the game. A big back for that era and very fast. Also if my memory is correct, Bryant only dressed something like 38 players for that game, three of whom were ultimately redshirted. Attrition over the spring practice period through the preseason was horrendous as Coach Bryant deliberately attempted to run off those that couldn't or wouldn't play his style of football. His approach was pretty much the same as it had been at both Kentucky and Texas A&M with the exception that the NCAA had outlawed the off-campus camps that he used at those schools, so he simply did the much the same thing on campus.

I didn't realize you were at that game, Marvin. I didn't know at first what was happening. Someone near me, probably someone more familiar with the stadium, said that the north end zone was collapsing...

 

[GrayTide]

Those of you who were not around in the late 1950's will surely find this far fetched. Billy Cannon at 6'1" and 210 pounds was a huge RB in those days. He was a avid weight lifter who just happened to run a 9.4 second 100 yard dash. All of this was unheard of in those days, plus he played both ways, returned kicks and was the team's punter. As a matter of fact he made a TD saving tackle in that Ole Miss game, which of course was overshadowed by his 89 yard TD run. IMO, he was a white, 1950's version of Herschel Walker although college football was so much different then than it was when Walker played. I remember listening to the LSU--Ole Miss game on WWL in New Orleans.

 

[Padreruf]

He was my first football hero as I lived in Louisiana at the time. Ironically we moved to Mobile in 1959 -- across from Ladd Stadium.

College football is a totally different enterprise now...cannot imagine UA or AU going to Mobile regularly to play a game.

 

[UAH]

Those of you who were not around in the late 1950's will surely find this far fetched. Billy Cannon at 6'1" and 210 pounds was a huge RB in those days. He was a avid weight lifter who just happened to run a 9.4 second 100 yard dash. All of this was unheard of in those days, plus he played both ways, returned kicks and was the team's punter. As a matter of fact he made a TD saving tackle in that Ole Miss game, which of course was overshadowed by his 89 yard TD run. IMO, he was a white, 1950's version of Herschel Walker although college football was so much different then than it was when Walker played. I remember listening to the LSU--Ole Miss game on WWL in New Orleans.

With today's proliferation of media outlets it would be difficult for young people to imagine us hanging on our seats hearing the game call on WWL.