Dr. William Abb "Billy" Cannon (August 2, 1937 – May 20, 2018) was an All-American, 1959 Heisman Trophy winner and 2008 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and one of the American Football League's most celebrated players.
He was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and moved to Baton Rouge when his father got a job there during World War II. He graduated from Istrouma High School in 1956.
LSU[]
Cannon played three seasons for LSU: 1957, 1958, and 1959. In 1958, Cannon led LSU to its first AP national championship. #1 LSU clinched the title in the Sugar Bowl, beating #12 Clemson 7-0. The only score was a pass from Cannon to Mickey Mangham. Cannon was also voted the 1958 UPI Player of the Year. In 1959, Cannon led #1 LSU to a victory over #3 Ole Miss. The Tigers were trailing 3-0 when Cannon returned a punt 89 yards for a TD, breaking seven tackles. It was the only TD of the game, resulting in a 7–3 victory for LSU in Tiger Stadium. That year, Cannon won the Heisman Trophy and was again voted the UPI College Football Player of the Year/UPI Player of the Year. Other big games from Cannon's time at LSU were unranked LSU's 20–13 victory over #17 Georgia Tech in 1957, #1 LSU's 14–0 victory over #6 Ole Miss in 1958, and #1 LSU's 10-0 victory over #9 TCU in 1959. The No. 20 worn by Cannon was retired after the 1959 season. It was the only football number retired by LSU until 2009, when Tommy Casanova's number was also retired.
Cannon had been originally elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983, but the Hall rescinded the honor before his induction due to his confessed involvement in a counterfeiting scheme. The Hall elected him a second time in 2008, and he was formally inducted during a ceremony on December 9 of that year.
AFL[]
Cannon had an uncommon combination of brute strength with the speed of a sprinter. A track and field coach is reported to have remarked during his college career that he could have lost 15 pounds and won the NCAA gold in the 100 meter dash, or gained 15 pounds and won the NCAA gold in the shotput. In 1960, his signing by the Houston Oilers followed a fierce bidding war that began when Oilers owner Bud Adams met Cannon in the end zone following LSU's Sugar Bowl victory, and ended in court, with the AFL winning against the NFL. That put the fledgling league on the football map. Cannon, at halfback, scored an 88-yard touchdown on a pass from George Blanda in the first AFL Championship game, a 24-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. He scored the only touchdown in the Oilers’ repeat victory over the Chargers in the second-ever AFL Championship game.
Cannon amassed 2,043 all-purpose yards in 1961, and led the league in rushing. He played for the Oilers from 1960 through 1963 and went to the Oakland Raiders in 1964. Al Davis converted him to tight end during the season, and he finished his career as one of the best players of all time at that position. Cannon was All-League and played in the AFL All-Star Game as a halfback in 1961. He was an AFL All-League selection at tight end in 1967, when he scored 10 receiving touchdowns. He played tight end in the 1969 AFL All-Star Game. He accounted for a total of 64 touchdowns in his career, 47 of them receiving. For his career, he amassed 3,656 yards receiving, 2,455 yards rushing, and 1,882 return yards for a combined total of 8,003 yards and 63 touchdowns. He also passed for 46 yards and one touchdown. He played in a total of six AFL Championship games, winning twice with the Oilers and once with the Raiders.
Billy Cannon was one of 20 players who played the entire ten years of the American Football League's existence. He was also one of 14 players to score 5+ touchdowns in one game, and also holds the Oilers/Titans franchise record for most points (30) and most touchdowns (5) in a single game.
Later life and death[]
Cannon became an orthodontist after his pro football career, earning a D.D.S. at the University of Tennessee and additional degrees in orthodontia from Loyola University Chicago. Despite a successful practice, by 1983 he was in financial difficulties from bad real estate investments and gambling debts. He became involved in a counterfeiting scheme and served 2½ years of a five-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana.[1] He printed $50 million in U.S. 100-dollar bills that he stored in ice chests, buried in the backyard of one of the houses he owned and rented out. Upon his release in 1986, he regained his license, but struggled to rebuild his practice.
In 1990, Cannon was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of former Teamsters Union business agent Edward Grady Partin, whose testimony in 1964 had sent Jimmy Hoffa to prison for jury tampering.
In 1995, he was hired as a dentist at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, initially as a contractor. At the time, the prison's dental clinic was in chaos, with many dentists refusing to work and inmates often being unable to make appointments. Cannon immediately set to reorganizing the dental program with great success, and was soon hired as a full-time employee. The warden, impressed with Cannon's work with the dental program, later put him in charge of the prison's entire medical system. Cannon remains the resident dentist at the penitentiary, where inmates typically call him "Legend."
Billy's son Billy Cannon, Jr. played linebacker for Texas A&M and was selected in the first round of the NFL draft in 1984, by the Dallas Cowboys. Cannon later resided in Saint Francisville, Louisiana.
In February 2013, Cannon suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in Baton Rouge. He was released two days later, returned to work the following Monday, and made a full recovery. Cannon died on May 20, 2018 at his home in St. Francisville, at the age of 80.