The 1959 Heisman Trophy winner, Billy Cannon of LSU was more than the average Heisman winner and one could argue that Cannon's charisma was a double-edged sword on and off the field.
Cannon was a star on the 1957 Tigers, but the bigger star was future NFL Hall of Famer Jim Taylor and Cannon was a player that thrived with Taylor drawing the attention of defensive gameplans but was not the focus of those plans with Cannon playing halfback next to Taylor along with defensive back, punter and returning kicks as what scouts would call today a "Swiss Army Knife" of a player.
Cannon would then lead the Tigers to their first national championship in 1958 as Cannon took over for the graduated Jim Taylor as the top weapon for LSU.
Cannon was moved to full-time offense and led the SEC in rushing and touchdowns as he was named the SEC player of the year.
Cannon would finish third in the 1958 Heisman race behind Army's Pete Dawkins and Iowa's Randy Duncan before scoring all seven points in LSU's Sugar Bowl win over Clemson by throwing a touchdown pass and kicking the extra point.
The Tigers didn't defend their national title in 1959, but Cannon gave their fans the play that defined their program on Halloween Night against Ole Miss.
At that time, it was the Rebels, who were the Tigers' top rival, not Alabama as the Tide were a rebuilding former power in their second season under Bear Bryant.
The undefeated pair (LSU #1, Ole Miss #3) moved into late in the game with the Rebels holding a 3-0 lead when Cannon grabbed an Ole Miss punt, broke seven tackles and raced 89 yards for the winning touchdown in a play that is still seen today on television and is replayed before every Tiger game inside Tiger Stadium to this day.
What is often forgotten about that game is Ole Miss driving to the Tigers one yard with 18 seconds to go and Cannon (with help from Warren Rabb) wrapping up a Rebel runner on fourth down to end the game.
The Heisman race was over and despite LSU losing to Tennessee the following week by one point and a Sugar Bowl rematch loss to Ole Miss, it was Cannon winning by a landslide over Penn State quarterback Richie Lucas for the 1959 award.
As Cannon prepared for that Sugar Bowl, he signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams for the 1960 season, but immediately following the Sugar Bowl, Cannon signed another deal with the Houston Oilers of the brand-new American Football League, which had yet to play a game, under the goalposts ( I did say immediately after the game) for much more money (each deal gave a $10.000 signing bonus, but the Rams total over three years was $30,000 compared to the Oilers three year total was $100,000 plus a new Cadillac) than the established NFL offered.
Even in 1959, the answer to such issues would be in litigation and that's where it ended up with the judge allowing Cannon to take the larger deal with the Oilers and allow Cannon to make history as the first $100,000 football player.
Cannon was one of a handful of players to be part of the entire run of the American Football League (1960-69) with his biggest years with the Oilers as he led the team in rushing in 1960 and the league in the same category in 1961 as the Oilers won the first two AFL titles with Cannon winning the AFL title game MVP in both seasons.
Cannon suffered a back injury that he played through in the 1962 season, would miss most of the 1963 season due to his back problems and would ask for a trade, which he would receive as he was sent to Oakland.
Cannon put together a solid 1964 after playing the year at fullback, but was moved to tight end in 1965 and caught only seven passes in an offense that used the tight end almost always as an extra blocker on the offensive line.
Under new coach John Rauch, Cannon was rejuvenated as he was allowed to run pass patterns downfield as a deep threat.
Cannon would only catch 14 passes, but the catches were for a total of 436 yards and averaged 31 yards per reception and things would only get better in 1967 as Cannon caught 32 passes for over 600 yards and ten touchdowns for the AFL champion Raiders.
Cannon's numbers dipped in 1968 (23, 360 and 6 TD's) and further in 1969 ( 21, 262 and 2 scores), so it wasn't a surprise that he was released in training camp of 1970 after the Raiders had spent their first-round draft pick on a tight end in Raymond Chester.
Cannon was talked into playing for the Kansas City Chiefs by head coach Hank Stram and would play six games, catching two touchdowns, before an injury ended his season and career.
Cannon had studied in the off-season to become a dentist and opened a successful practice in Baton Rouge, but despite his success and fame in the area, Cannon fell into deep financial holes, due to gambling losses and bad investments and made a poor decision.
Cannon became involved with a counterfeiting ring that printed over six million dollars in 1983 and was sentenced to a five-year term and would serve two and a half years of that sentence.
Upon release, Cannon would become the dentist at the Louisiana State Penitentiary as an occasional fill-in and through his work, Cannon would first become the full-time dentist and eventually the head of the entire medical system.
Cannon's problems weren't all his own, his son, Billy Jr, was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the 1984 draft, but only eight games into his rookie season Billy Jr suffered a career-ending neck injury.
Billy Cannon's post-prison life was one that saw him working with prisoners, still beloved by the
LSU fans and was rewarded with a statue for the Tigers only Heisman winner that was unveiled in September 2018, four months after Cannon passed away at the age of 80.
We welcome Billy Cannon into the Forgotten Superstars universe as the latest entry and for those of you fans of the rockabilly style of music, Jay Chevalier with his song titled "Billy Cannon".
