Editor’s Note: LSU Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon will be inducted into the prestigious College Football Hall of Fame in New York on Dec. 9. Visit LSUsports.net on Wednesday and Thursday to view a recent two-part interview conducted from the field of Tiger Stadium. Dan Borne’ asked Cannon to reflect on this honor and his career with the Tigers and in the NFL. LSU celebrates the 50th anniversary of its 1958 National Championship team, and will honor Cannon at this weekend’s game against Ole Miss.
To own a copy of this feature, purchase the 2008 LSU-Ole Miss GameDay Program online now.
by RJ Marse
LSU Sports Information
Billy Cannon races some 89 yards for the touchdown! Listen to the cheers for Billy Cannon as he comes off the field! A great All-American!
– Excerpt of J.C. Politz’s Radio Broadcast of Billy Cannon’s “Halloween Run”
Ole Miss punter Jake Gibbs tried to kick the ball out of bounds.
But, by some stroke of luck, or perhaps because of the slick surface covered in the night-time film of south Louisiana humidity, the ball took a funny bounce off the LSU 15-yard line.
It went straight up into the air and down into the racing arms of LSU running back Billy Cannon.
Seven broken tackles, 89 yards and 49 years later, Cannon’s fabled punt return against the Rebels is one of the most famous plays in college football history.
“The film is turning yellow. You know that, don’t you?” said Cannon, jokingly.
The “Halloween Run” gave the top-ranked Tigers the win over the No. 3 Rebels, 7-3, and vaulted Cannon into the national spotlight in 1959 as he would go on to win the first and only Heisman Trophy in the history of LSU Football. Cannon’s jersey number 20 is also the only number to be retired in the program.
The Baton Rouge native’s accomplishments and awards on the football field are numerous ? All-American, Heisman Trophy winner, National Champion and two-time AFL Champion to name a few ? but Cannon can now add one more honor to the list: College Football Hall-of-Famer.
“You’ve been named with the great players of the past, the ones that are playing now and the ones that will play in the future,” he said.
“To be in that group is just outstanding and to be elected by a group of your peers is just wonderful.”
Cannon’s career as a Tiger is well-documented. He led the 1958 team to the school’s first national title, clinching the undefeated season with a halfback pass to teammate Mickey Mangham for a touchdown in the Sugar Bowl against Clemson. The Tigers would go on to win the game, 7-0, validating their spot at the top of the final polls.
“I’ve caught the devil about that play ever since it happened,” said Cannon. “I had two open receivers, Scotty McClain and Mickey Mangham, and I threw it to Mickey because I felt like it would be better. McClain has complained for 50 years that he could have caught the ball better. How could you catch the ball any better? It was a touchdown!”
For all that Cannon is known for on the football field, it might be what most people don’t know that made his career truly remarkable. In that game against Ole Miss on Halloween night, 1959, Cannon wasn’t only responsible for scoring the winning touchdown, he stopped a Rebel attempt at a game-winning touchdown as time expired in the fourth quarter. Cannon played offense, defense and special teams in his LSU career and that night, his defense loomed large.
The Rebels had the ball with a fourth-and-goal just outside the LSU goal line. Gibbs, who was also the Ole Miss quarterback, tried to run in off the left side of the line only to be met by a swarm of Tiger defenders before he could cross into the end zone. The leader of that group? LSU safety Billy Cannon.
“You’re rewarded for good deeds. In Louisiana, the people of the state, the Tiger fans, are all behind you, win or tie,” he said. “They don’t care for losing. They don’t enjoy it.”
After leaving LSU, Cannon was signed by the Houston Oilers with the first overall draft pick in the 1960 AFL Draft. Though his playing career took him away from LSU, Cannon would return every summer to continue working ? in the classroom. After a 10-year career in the AFL, Cannon returned home to Louisiana to open his own orthodontics practice just north of Baton Rouge. Rumor has it that he would even give free braces to children who couldn’t afford to pay for them. He has also served as the resident dentist at the Angola State Penitentiary for the past 13 years.
Not many professional football players go on to become doctors after their playing careers are over, and Cannon points out that it’s simply a matter of hard work and desire that allowed him to transition his life so well.
“LSU will give you anything that you have the ability to take,” he said. “They’re not going to give it to you, but they’ll put it there for you to take. If you take it and run with it, you will get as good of an education as you can get anywhere.”
But this isn’t a celebration of Dr. Billy Cannon, orthodontist. Cannon doesn’t get many interview requests from reporters who want to know about all the crooked smiles he straightened. It’s about Billy Cannon, LSU football icon.
After he gets done praising his teammates, coaches and teachers ? everyone but himself ? for enabling him to have such great success at LSU, Cannon allows a sheepish grin to emerge and says what every Tiger fan already knows.
“There was nothing like running with that football.”
The LSU faithful might disagree. Back in 1959, fans would go as far as selling their cars for a set of tickets to an LSU home game.
To them, there was nothing like watching Billy Cannon run with the football.