Voting Station

Billy Cannon

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Football Player

The Resume

    (August 2, 1937-May 20, 2018)
    Born in Philadelphia, Mississippi
    Running back and tight end
    Attended Louisiana State University (LSU)
    Heisman Trophy winner (1959)
    Played for the Houston Oilers (1960-63), Oakland Raiders (1964-69) and Kansas City Chiefs (1970)
    Two-time most valuable player of the AFL Championship Game (1960-61)
    #20 retired by LSU
    Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (2008)

Why he might be annoying:

    He had his first brush with the law in high school when he drew a 90-day suspended sentence after he and some friends were caught extorting money from men who had been patronizing prostitutes.
    After college, he signed contracts with both the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL and the Houston Oilers of the AFL, leading to a legal battle over which team would get him.
    During Super Bowl II (January 14, 1968), he dropped a pass while wide-open on a play he almost certainly would have scored on; he later called it ‘the clumsiest drop of my career.’
    After getting into debt from heavy gambling and real estate investments gone bad, he got involved in a counterfeiting ring that produced $6 million in phony $100 bills.
    He was caught and served three years in a federal penitentiary (1983-86).
    He was originally elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 but the Hall revoked the honor before his induction because of his counterfeiting bust.

Why he might not be annoying:

    In high school football, he set a state scoring record, despite usually playing only in the first half of games.
    In high school track and field, he set state records in the 100-yard dash and the shotput.
    His ‘Halloween run,’ in which he broke seven tackles to return a punt 89 yards for a game-winning touchdown against Ole Miss (October 31, 1959), is still played on the jumbotron at LSU’s Tiger Stadium before each home game.
    In a readers poll by the New Orleans Times-Picayune to name the best LSU player since 1940, he finished first in a landslide (2013).
    He continued his studies in the off-season as a pro, earning a doctorate in dental surgery.
    After his release from prison, he was hired as a dentist at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where he so impressed the warden that he was eventually appointed head of the prison’s entire medical system.
    He was married to his high school sweetheart, Dot Dupuy, for over 60 years.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 91 Votes: 52.75% Annoying