It’s Oct. 31, 1959 and the No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers trail the No. 6 ranked Ole Miss Rebels 3-0 late in the fourth quarter. 
The LSU defense force a 4th and 17 at the Ole Miss 42-yard line, resulting in a Jack Gibbs punt. The plan is to punt the ball out of bounds from electric running back and defensive back Billy Cannon. 
Gibbs punts the ball to the LSU 11-yard line, Cannon picks up the slow-rolling ball and is off to the races as 68,000 fans cheer to an 89-yard punt return that puts the Tigers up 7-3 on the stunned Rebels.
The play still gives LSU fans goosebumps as it’s played on the video screens around Tiger Stadium before every home game.
So it’s only fitting that Cannon, who passed away in May, be honored with a statue on the week the No. 5 ranked Tigers take on Ole Miss for a true Louisiana Saturday Night, nearly 59 years to the day of that historic run.
The statue will be revealed at 6:30 p.m. at Championship Plaza Friday, making Cannon the first LSU football player to be honored with a statue. The event is open to the public, and Coach Ed Orgeron said there isn’t an LSU recruit that doesn’t hear the tail of Billy Cannon.
“Obviously his run that night is very historic,” Orgeron said. “You hear about it, we watch it and we talk to our recruits about it. He’s one of the all-time greats to play at LSU, so this is a big deal.”
The 1958 team will be honored at the game Saturday night, and Orgeron thanked them for “setting the standard of what it takes to be a Tiger.”
Cannon may be gone, but he made an impact on the lives of current Tiger players that they will never forget. Junior long snapper Blake Ferguson said he had a few conversations with Cannon.
“Before he passed away, he was around the program a ton,” Ferguson said. “Being able to honor him this weekend is going to be very special, and obviously he’s a big part of what this program is built on. He was always the kind of person to ask how I was doing and really invest in me, which I really appreciated.”
Senior running back Nick Brossette said he was completely befuddled that Cannon knew who he was the first time meeting him.
“It was an honor to meet him,” Brossette said. “I walked up to him and it was crazy he knew who I was. I knew a little bit about him, but obviously he’s one of the greats so I had to know about him if I was coming here.” 
Cannon’s collegiate accomplishments include being the school’s only Heisman Trophy winner in 1958 along as well as being a part of the first national championship team in that 1958 season. Cannon would go on to be the first overall pick in 1960, after which he had a successful 10-year career as a professional.