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5 things about the ex-Raider star turned prison dentist

Former LSU running back and Heisman trophy winner Billy Cannon watches his famous run on the sc ...

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, 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 2 1/2 years of a 5-year sentence for counterfeiting, Cannon became a dentist at Louisiana State Penitentiary. Eventually he was put in charge of the prison system’s 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 of 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-year-old 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 48-yard 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.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.

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