On Sunday, the American Football League’s first star, Billy Cannon, passed away at the age of 80. The former Heisman winning LSU halfback (and later fullback and tight end) helped lead the Houston Oilers to back-to-back AFL Championships in the fledgling league’s first two years. Cannon would later win another AFL Championship in 1967 with the Oakland Raiders, but would go on to lose Super Bowl II against the Green Bay Packers.
What’s truly remarkable about Billy Cannon isn’t so much what he accomplished on the field, but in how he came to play for the Oilers.