Prison time was no kick in the teeth for Cannon

Ex-LSU great’s sentence offered new path forward

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series acquainting fans with the Raiders’ illustrious 60-year history as the team moves to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

He was a legend at Louisiana State, an All-Pro with the Raiders and a prison dentist.

Much about Billy Cannon’s pro football career was like pulling teeth. And when he became a dentist after his playing days, so were the later years of his life.

After serving 2½ years of a fiveyear sentence for counterfeiting, Cannon became a dentist at Louisiana State Penitentiary. Eventually he was put in charge of the state prisons’ entire medical system.

It was a post he held until his death in 2018.

Here are five more things about one of the most versatile offensive players — tight end, wide receiver, fullback, halfback — in Raiders’ history:

■ Cannon was LSU’s only Heisman Trophy winner until Joe Burrow last season. His No. 20 was the first of only two jersey numbers retired by the school (Tommy Casanova, 37), and a statue of his likeness was unveiled outside Tiger Stadium following his death. A clip of Cannon’s iconic 89-yard punt return touchdown against Mississippi on Halloween night 1959 is shown on the scoreboard before every game.

■ He was the No. 1 draft pick of the NFL as well as the No. 1 territorial pick of the old AFL but played with the AFL’s Houston Oilers despite previously signing with the Los Angeles Rams (and their 33-yearold general manager Pete Rozelle). A judge sided with the Oilers on the basis of Cannon being “a provincial lad untutored and unwise in the ways of the business world.”

■ Cannon’s son, Billy Jr., was a linebacker at Texas A&M and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the 1984 NFL draft. A multisport star like his father, Cannon Jr. also was drafted by the New York Yankees out of high school.

■ In Super Bowl II against the Packers, a wide-open Billy Cannon Sr. dropped an apparent touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter of Green Bay’s 33-14 victory.

■ The following season in the infamous “Heidi Game” against the New York Jets, Cannon caught a 48yard TD pass from Daryle Lamonica in the second quarter before NBC pulled the plug on the broadcast and the Raiders rallied for a 43-32 victory by scoring two touchdowns in the final minute.

Bill Haber The Associated Press Former Louisiana State running back and Raiders All-Pro Billy Cannon watches his famous 1959 run against Mississippi on the scoreboard at Tiger Stadium.