Saturday, November 22, 2008

LSU 1958 Reunion of Champions!

LSU Tiger Stadium

LSU Tiger Stadium

LSU Tiger Stadium

LSU Tiger Stadium

LSU Tiger Stadium

LSU’s 1958 national champion football team will be honored at halftime of the LSU vs. Ole Miss game on Saturday. Also, 1959 Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon will be recognized for his election into the College Football Hall of Fame.

BATON ROUGE -- Nostalgia will be dripping from Tiger Stadium on Saturday when the 1958 LSU Tigers, the first consensus national championship team in school history and the only undefeated title holder in school annals, will be presented at halftime of the game as part of a weekend-long reunion celebration for the squad.

Also, LSU legend Billy Cannon will be honored during the break between the first and second quarters for his election to the College Football Hall of Fame. Cannon was elected earlier this year and will be inducted in ceremonies to be held at New York’s historic Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on December 9.

The 1958 team will start its reunion activities with a gathering at the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes on Friday evening followed by a tour of the LSU Football Operations Center. On Saturday morning the team will tour the Andonie Museum and will be presented at the Tiger Athletic Foundation Pre-Game Party in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

At halftime of the LSU-Ole Miss game, the team will be introduced at mid-field.

Cannon becomes only the sixth player in the history of LSU football to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Cannon will be presented with a plaque by the National Football Foundation on Saturday to commemorate his election to the Hall.

Other former LSU players who have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame are G.E. “Doc” Fenton (1904-09), Abe Mickal (1933-35), Gaynell “Gus” Tinsley (1934-36), Ken Kavanaugh (1937-39) and Tommy Casanova (1969-71).

Five former LSU coaches are in the College Football Hall of Fame. They are Mike Donahue who also coached at Auburn; Lawrence “Biff” Jones who also coached at Army, Oklahoma and Nebraska; Dana X. Bible who also coached at Mississippi College, Texas A&M, Nebraska and Texas; Bernie Moore who also coached at Mercer, and LSU’s all-time winningest coach, Charles McClendon, who coached only at LSU from 1962-79.

Check out the article at LSU Sports.

Congrats to Billy Cannon and the rest of the 1958 Championship Team, who had one helluva season back in the day and have been honored for their accomplishments ever since.

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