Cannon headed to Hall of Fame

• By SCOTT RABALAIS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 2, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The first call Thursday came from Billy Cannon’s daughter, Bunnie, telling him an announcement was pending on his election to the College Football Hall of Fame.

“I said, ‘That’s good.’ She said, ‘That’s all?’” Cannon recalled, chuckling to himself.

Perhaps his response was a reaction to years of waiting, wondering if his name would ever be called again.

By Thursday afternoon, after several interview requests and a call of congratulations from Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis — Cannon played five seasons for the Raiders in the 1960s — the weight of the honor hit home for LSU’s most legendary football player.

“It’s nice to be remembered,” said Cannon, who won LSU’s only Heisman Trophy as a senior in 1959.

“I am deeply honored to have been chosen and I am even prouder that I will always be an LSU Tiger.”

Cannon and 14 other inductees will be honored Dec. 9 during ceremonies at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York during the National Football Foundation’s annual awards dinner.

The College Football Hall of Fame is in South Bend, Ind.

Cannon is the 11th LSU player or coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the first since three-time All-American safety Tommy Casanova (1969-71) was honored in 1995.

Cannon was originally elected to the hall in February 1983. But his induction was denied in July of that year after Cannon pleaded guilty to taking part in a counterfeiting ring.

Cannon would go on to serve 2 1/2  years in federal prison.

Eventually he was welcomed back into the hearts of LSU football fans. When LSU’s 1958 national championship team was recognized at halftime of a 1988 football game in Tiger Stadium, the crowd gave Cannon a standing ovation. He has received similar on-the-field honors over the years.

Whether the College Football Hall of Fame ever came calling again wasn’t a concern, he said.