RIP Billy Cannon

[jr/shotglass]

May have been ahead of most of our times, but he was a true LSU legend. Dead at 80.

LSU legend, Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon dies at 80

 

[Michael_ Gee]

First big college star to sign with the AFL, too.

 

[Azrael]

Hard to find a better story in big-time college football than Billy Cannon, All-America hero and convicted counterfeiter.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

And was not the basis for DeFord’s “Everybody’s All American.”

 

[Batman]

Good obit from The Advocate in Baton Rouge, talking about his highs and lows. It doesn't shy away from mentioning the bad stuff.

Remembering LSU legend Billy Cannon: Heisman winner, football hero, more

 

[Slacker]

Good obit from The Advocate in Baton Rouge, talking about his highs and lows. It doesn't shy away from mentioning the bad stuff.

Remembering LSU legend Billy Cannon: Heisman winner, football hero, more

Cannon was not only named the SEC’s Back of the Decade in the 1950s, but in an era when a team's best players competed on both sides of the ball, he also was the Defensive Back of the Decade.

I like this part best.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Hard to find a better story in big-time college football than Billy Cannon, All-America hero and convicted counterfeiter.

Art Schlichter's predeccessor and role model.

 

[Slacker]

Art Schlichter's predeccessor and role model.

That's not really fair, is it?

Schlichter is more like Lawrence Taylor, or Strawberry & Gooden. Hooked on an addiction over and over and over ...

 

[HanSenSE]

Cannon was not only named the SEC’s Back of the Decade in the 1950s, but in an era when a team's best
players competed on both sides of the ball, he also was the Defensive Back of the Decade.

I like this part best.

The front and sports covers were impressive too.

 

[wicked]

The thing about Billy Cannon that stood out was his willingness to address the bad stuff. There was a piece on College Gameday a number of years ago about how he’d visit and care for inmates pro bono.

 

[Steak Snabler]

And was not the basis for DeFord’s “Everybody’s All American.”

Maybe not the book, but the movie damn sure was based on Cannon.

But yeah, the book was set at UNC and supposedly based largely on Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, who was playing for the Redskins when Deford was growing up in Baltimore.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

I have never seen that movie.

 

[Slacker]

There is no "30 for 30" on Cannon, right? His life, and his legend, would make a fine episode.

 

[Steak Snabler]

There is no "30 for 30" on Cannon, right? His life, and his legend, would make a fine episode.

No, not even an SEC Storied as far as I know.

 

[Slacker]

No, not even an SEC Storied as far as I know.

Too bad it didn't happen before he died, but maybe there are enough interview clips to be found. What a story.

 

[albert777]

To this day, my dad, a diehard Ole Miss fan, blames Johnny Vaught for losing that Halloween game in '58. He says Vaught played too conservative and tried to sit on a 3-0 lead.