Billy Cannon by Charles N. deGravelles

Author:Charles N. deGravelles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 2015-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

I Believed!

Billy remembered well how he felt as the 1958 football season approached. “You weren’t reading about it in the paper, but there was enthusiasm that we would have a better team—better than the five and five we’d had the year before. Of course, nobody—including me—had any idea we’d win a national championship or go to a major bowl game. Believe it or not, I didn’t know they were ranking the teams. I thought the big reward for a great season was to go to a bowl. I wanted to go to the Rose Bowl.” He laughed. “I didn’t know the Rose Bowl was tied down between the West Coast and the Big Ten. But I personally felt it was going to be a great, great year, and I was so glad to be a part of it. We had a great new offense, and I knew what we were capable of on defense. We had more speed and more talent. The recruiting they’d done was finally going to pay off.”

Billy had an idea of how to combine his optimism for the coming season with his entrepreneurship, and he scheduled an appointment to see athletic director Jim Corbett. “So far, I’d had three meetings with Corbett,” Billy said, “once when he was recruiting me, once when I was a freshman and he told me to quit selling varsity tickets outside the stadium, and once to tell me to quit working for the Teamsters. I know he must have wondered what I was up to now.” The meeting was cordial. “We exchanged pleasantries for a while,” Billy said, “but he finally asked me why I had come.” Billy put on Corbett’s desk a list of the home games in the fall schedule and beside each game, the number of tickets he wanted to buy. “They were all in Section 32 in the north end of the stadium, end-zone tickets selling for $2.50 each. I listed the different number of tickets I wanted for each game. I put down a couple of hundred tickets for Ole Miss and maybe another couple of hundred for the Tulane game.” Attached to the list was Billy’s personal check for the full amount needed to purchase them.

Corbett hesitated as he tried to understand what his star athlete was up to. “Uh, Billy, I don’t think I can do this.”

“Why not,” Billy insisted. “It’s my money, and I’m paying the full price.” To pay for the tickets, Billy had put together almost his entire savings; only one hundred dollars and the final paycheck he had coming from Sachse Electric were not tied up in the ticket purchase. “I’m putting up everything I own, and I’m hoping to make some money off this. I believe I’ll turn a profit.” Billy reminded Corbett that he was married with one child and that another was due in September. This was an investment he needed to make to provide for his family.

Again, Corbett hesitated. “I think I’m going to need to talk to someone about this.

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