Anniversary of Famous Billy Cannon Run Coming Up Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31

Saturday, October 31, 2026, is the anniversary of the most celebrated game in the annuls of LSU football. 

Today, only five percent of Louisianians are old enough to remember a football game played in 1959. Statistically, of the 64,000 people in Tiger Stadium for the game, fewer than 4,000 are alive today.

It was Halloween night — Saturday, October 31, 1959 ­— and the game was a clash of titans. 

LSU was the defending National Champion, undefeated, ranked No. 1 in the nation, and arguably one of the greatest teams in the history of college football.  

However, the Tigers, led by Coach Paul Dietzel and the legendary Billy Cannon, who won the Heisman Trophy that season, were a three-point underdog to the visiting Ole Miss Rebels.  

Why? Ole Miss, coached by Johnny Vaught, was also undefeated and was ranked No. 3 in the nation. They had crushed their first six opponents. 

Objective observers outside Louisiana saw Ole Miss as the best team in the country, LSU notwithstanding.  The Rebels were an offensive powerhouse, but their defense was even better. 

During the entire 1959 season, Ole Miss gave up only 21 points. One of the three touchdowns came on that Halloween night.

With a little over 10 minutes left in the game, Ole Miss was leading 3-0.  Quarterback Jake Gibbs was sacked on the Ole Miss 42. It was third down and 17 yards to go.

Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught saw little chance of making a first down and decided the best option was to kick the ball and hope it would put the Tigers’ back to the goal line.

Quarterback Jake Gibbs punted. It was supposed to go out of bounds inside the 10.

Billy Cannon was back to receive the punt, but he was under strict orders not to try to run the ball if he received it inside the 15 yard line.

It had rained before game time and the field was a mess. The punt hit the ground and made a single slow bounce chest high.

Cannon was on the 11 yard line and ignored his instructions.  

It is important to understand that Billy Cannon was a world class athlete with an unique combination of speed and strength.

At LSU, Cannon won the SEC track and field championships in both the 100-yard dash and the shot put!  No other athlete in SEC history has won both the 100 yard/meter dash and the shot put.

Cannon grabbed the ball and one by one knocked away eight tacklers.  By the time he hit the end zone, he was 10 yards ahead of the nearest Ole Miss defender.  

It was an 89-yard punt return that today lives in history.

But it wasn’t over. Cannon crossed into the end zone with exactly 10:00 left on the clock.

Ole Miss went to work — making it all the way to the LSU one yard line.  But this was to be the greatest goal line stand in LSU history! 

Billy Cannon and Warren Rabb, the starting running back and quarterback on offense, were playing defense! At fourth and one, the pair from Istrouma and Baton Rouge High surged forward and stopped the Rebels — with 18 seconds left on the clock!

LSU won 7-3. As you can imagine, Tiger Stadium went wild!

The next week, LSU lost to Tennessee on a highly questionable call by the referees.

The Tigers and the Rebels each finished the season with one loss.

In one of the worst business decisions in LSU football history, LSU agreed to play Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.  Ole Miss won 21-0.

Few teams would voluntarily play a bowl game against a team they beat in the regular season. You let that victory stand. But the game was played, and Ole Miss won.

Before the Sugar Bowl, Syracuse (11-0) was declared the National Champions by the wire services, but several rating services declared Ole Miss the National Champion after the Sugar Bowl. It is a title that Ole Miss claims to this day. 

Billy Cannon was named the winner of the Heisman Trophy.

The LSU-Ole Miss game played on Halloween night in 1959 remains one of the greatest and most talked about games in college sports history.

PHOTO BILLY CANNON’S 89-YARD TOUCHDOWN RUN — The winning touchdown on Halloween night, Saturday, Oct. 31, 1959, in the game between the defending National Champion LSU Tigers, ranked No. 1 in the country in 1959, and their arch rivals, the Ole Miss Rebels, ranked No. 3 in the country.  In the 4th quarter, Ole Miss was leading 3-0 and faced 3rd down and 17 yards to go on their own 42 yard line when Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught decided to punt. Cannon, with his blazing speed, took the punt by Rebel quarterback Jake Gibbs and ran 89 yards for a touchdown. He scored with 10 minutes left on the clock.  However, the tables soon turned and, with only seconds left, Ole Miss had the ball on the LSU goal line. On fourth down, Billy Cannon and Warren Rabb combined to stop backup Ole Miss quarterback Doug Elmore, sealing the LSU victory. Ironically, Billy Cannon was the greatest star in the history of Istrouma High School, while Warren Rabb was one of the greats in the history of their crosstown rival, Baton Rouge High. The Istrouma-Baton Rouge combination of Cannon and Rabb in this historic game helped seal forever the legendary rivalry of the two schools.  The illustration above is from Louisiana History Brought to Life, An Illustrative Collection by Woody Jenkins.  Historical research, narrative, and creative direction by Woody Jenkins. Illustrations created with generative AI under his direction.