Our old Designated Writers buddy Richard Lamb of Shreveport became friends with the family of patriarch Billy Cannon, who passed away Sunday at 80, when he lived with Billy Jr. in college at Texas A&M. He spoke for the family at Dr. Cannon’s funeral Wednesday and talked with DW for a while Thursday.

“Doc had cardiomyopathy; he had a defibrillator. I told the family that God just decided to take him. He was working right up until the end. He just retired from Angola a few months ago. He was still out working horses last week…

“Doc’s one of the neatest people I’ve ever met. So is (wife) Dot, who was a great basketball player. The first time I walked into their house was around 1980, pretty intimidated. There’s the trophy case with all Doc’s trophies in it, but Dot had plenty herself. I just love that whole family…

“I had one sports hero in my life and it’s him. The thing I’m most proud of him for is in the book: redemption. (“Billy Cannon: A Long, Long Run” by Charles N. deGravelles.) He made a mistake: a terrible mistake. But he paid for it. I went and saw him when he was in that prison in Texas. I’ve kept the letters he wrote me. Thank God people forgive us. Some people are just boneheads. ‘Well he’s an ex-con.’ They don’t even know the man…

“To me he’s what a Heisman Trophy winner is. Never talks about himself. He talks about teammates and friends and people he went to college with. And their kids. You can’t find somebody who loves kids more than him.

“In my deal at the funeral, I said that you have one momma and one daddy. Maybe you’ll have step mom or dad. Either way, you don’t like to share them. But I told the family, I thank you all for sharing your mom and dad all these years. I’ve been to football games at LSU with Billy and every 10 feet somebody wants to talk. He always stops and talks…No airs about him. Like I’ve said, one of the most wonderful guys you could ever know…”

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