Maybe one of the 5 greatest plays in College football history

by Sammy P. Graphia
(Baton Rouge, LA)

My name is Sammy Graphia and on Halloween night of 1959, unlike the "300,000" or so people that claimed to be in the stands, I was at home listening to the Ole Miss - LSU game with my father on radio because he couldn't afford to buy us tickets.

Well, Ole Miss scored 3 points in the 1st quarter that stood up until the fourth quarter. My father was on a $1 football board and he had the numbers 3 for Ole Miss and 0 for LSU. I can remember it like it was yesterday when my father told me in not so many words, "Sammy I just won $75 and you know that we can use the money but I would rather lose the money for the fourth quarter as long as LSU wins the game".

Well everyone that knows anything about LSU football knows what happened when the great Jake Gibbs of Ole Miss punted the ball to the LSU eleven yard line. On that Halloween night Billy Cannon, and the rest of the LSU football team became legends. He was the idol of the 20,000 or so kids that lived in the Baton Rouge and surrounding area not even counting the one's in the entire state.

This is now the 50th anniversary of Billy's runback and I am now 62 years old. I continue to bleed "purple and gold" every Saturday during football season, but I just want to say that in my opinion Billy Cannon's touchdown run, that won the game for LSU on Halloween night of 1959, "is" one of the 5 "greatest" plays in the long history of college football.

As long as there is college football I believe that the recording of the runback of that punt, recorded by J.C. Politz, who was the LSU play-by-play announcer at that time, will be played every single year until there in not one single LSU fan left to cheer.

GEAUX TIGERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!