Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
Friday, November 18,1983/The Battalion/Page 11
illy Cannon
Ag player fights off problems; looks to future
pifil . '
Billy Cannon has rebounded from adversity several
|mes and is enjoying his most productive year
Hi for the Texas A&M football team.
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United Press International
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DALLAS — Mark Aguirre’s
foot jump shot with 58
bnds remaining provided the
ning points Thursday night
P the Dallas Mavericks over-
ne a series of controversial
ings in the final moments to
it the New Jersey Nets, 115-
In’t take #3.
f The win kept Dallas un-
Kten at home this season, but
if sheo» Mavericks had to survive a
infftonP at buzzer by Darrell
D Hcim!;- w * t ‘ ns 10 n ‘P ^ ie Nets.
i Dallas trailed by 1 1 in the
estedRoifF ond quarter, fought back to
ind clti*n* n two earl y ‘ n l he third
ed robtie#^ oc * arK l fell behind by eight
' late in the quarter.
'alias, despite being outmus-
I for much of the evening on
boards, clawed back in the
1 quarter and eventually tied
game at 112-112 on a jump
tby Pat Cummings with 1:31
i.
oments later Aguirre hit his
t to put Dallas in front. Daw-
s then hit one of two free
ows to get New Jersey to with-
point.
During the final 45 seconds
Y m two teams traded turnovers
arid Dallas’ Elston Turner then
GIAL Bssed two free throws with 10
Steak ■
avy ■ n r
= j&M tennis
rfher
seconds to go to give the Nets a
chance.
After a heated argument
over where the Nets should
bring in the ball after a time out,
Kelvin Ransey missed a layup,
Aguirre got the rebound and
was fouled with a second left.
Aguirre made one free
throw, but missed the second to
leave Dallas in front by two. De
spite the fact the buzzer sound
ed while the ball was loose on the
rebound, New Jersey was
allowed a time out and that call
brought on more debate.
Dawkins final shot, however,
bounded off the rim to leave
Dallas with the victory.
Jay Vincent scored 33 to lead
the Mavericks while Aguirre
finished with 29. Albert King
paced the the Nets with 25 while
Dawkins had 18.
energy
costs!
consene it
by John P. Lopez
Battalion Staff
Billy Cannon’s fortunes have
pretty much taken the same
path as those of the Texas A&M
football team.
There have been some rough
times — real rough times — but
things are looking better these
days.
Ever since Cannon was at
Broadmoor High School in
Baton Rouge, La., and he de
cided he wanted to go to school
at Texas A&M, he’s had many
hurdles to clear.
“There was a lot of pressure
to go to LSU back then,” Cannon
said. “People write you up in the
paper and say things about you.”
And that was just the first ob
stacle Cannon has had to over
come. Since then, he’s had to de
cide whether he wants to pursue
a pro baseball career or a pro
football career. Cannon also has
had to make the transition to a
new position three times as a
Texas A&M football player.
And victory-hungry Aggie
fans have often used Cannon as
a scapegoat during his four
years at Texas A&M. More than
once, Cannon has come under
fire as an underachiever or a dis
appointment.
But that’s not all.
The biggest dilemma Cannon
has had to deal with came up this
summer when his father, for
mer Heisman Trophy winner
Billy Sr., was arrested and con
victed on counterfeiting
charges.
Consequently, Cannon was
pursued by pushy newspaper
reporters. The red-headed 22-
year-old could have easily
thrown up his hands and broken
under the pressure, but Aggie
head coach Jackie Sherrill said
Cannon handled the adversity
admirably.
“He’s taking this extremely
well,” Sherrill said during the
Southwest Conference media
tour this summer. “He’s hand
ling his (father’s) situation a lot
better than I could if I was in his
place.”
And one of the ways Cannon
is handling the situation is by
heeding the advice of former
baseball pitcher-philosopher
Satchel Paige.
“Don’t look back, something
could be gaining on you,” Paige
once said. And Cannon hasn’t
looked back in quite a while —
especially when it comes to the
Texas A&M football team.
“You look at us this year with
the new defense and we haven’t
really been beaten by anybody,”
he said. “It makes the game fun.
I’ve had more fun this year than
I’ve ever had playing football.
“When you have incentives
behind you, it’s always fun to
play. And we’ve got some things
to play for right now. Some peo
ple are talking about bowls and
we’re trying to improve our re
cord right now. If we beat TCU,
we’ll be flying pretty high for the
Texas game.”
And when Cannon talks ab
out his father, he talks about the
influence Billy Sr. has had on his
career.
“He always influenced me,”
Cannon said. “But he never put
any pressure on me. The only
thing he always emphasized was
that if I did play, and I did go out
for a team, I wouldn’t quit. I re
member that.”
But quitting football crossed
his mind more than once, Can
non said. It’s not that Cannon
didn’t enjoy playing the sport,
he just figured he had a better
shot at making it in the pros if he
played baseball.
“When I first came here, I
didn’t think I wanted to play
football,” he said. “I wanted to
play baseball. But the way it
looks right now, I could prob
ably do better playing football.
“It’s helped playing both
sports here at A&M because I
look back and realize that I really
didn’t know what I wanted to do.
If I would’ve gone straight into
baseball, I would’ve asked my
self, ‘I wonder how I would’ve
done if I played football’ and if I
didn’t play baseball here, I
would’ve wondered about that.”
The Aggies are particularly
/
Texas A&M’s Billy Cannon prepares to hit win last week. A&M plays TCU Saturday.
Arkansas’ Brad Taylor during the Aggies’
Kings
Spurs
crown
by
glad Cannon decided to play
football this season. Since being
moved to linebacker, Cannon
has had one of his most produc
tive seasons ever in a maroon
and white uniform.
“I feel pretty comfortable
right now,” Cannon said. “I had
my doubts when we first started
because the first thing they did
was put us up against some
freshmen linemen that weighed
240- or 250-pounds and I had to
take those guys on. I had never
done that before.”
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SAN ANTONIO — Eddie
Johnson canned 25 points
Thursday, including two free
throws with six seconds left, to
lift the Kansas City Kings to a
129-128 NBA win over the San
Antonio Spurs.
The Kings hit 20 of 22 shots
from the floor in the third
period as they outscored San
Antonio 46-26 to take a 103-93
lead into the final period.
Larry Drew hit 11 of his 21
points in the third quarter and
Steve Johnson pumped in 10 of
his 20 points in the stanza. San
Antonio hit 18 of 20 free throw
attempts but only four of 15
field goal attempts in the third
quarter.
George Gervin hit 24 of his
game-high 35 points in the
second half, including 13 in the
final period. Mike Mitchell, who
I
I
gave San Antonio its only lead of j
the final period at 128-127 with
16 seconds left, added 24 points
for the Spurs.
The game lasted 2 hours and
32 minutes because of 78 per
sonal fouls, including 43 against |
the Kings — a record for an - |
opponent of the San Antonio |
franchise.
P°
for the Kings. Gene Bank, the
NBA’s leading field goal percen
tage shooter, scored 17 for San
Antonio and hit all six of his field
goal attempts.
SANDWICHES & SALADS
OPEN TILL
2 a.m.
DAILY
Receive FREE 1 large soft drink
AND 1 bag of chips with purchase
of ANY of our foot long sandwiches
or large salads at regular price
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p<
10 rebounds and seven blocked
shots for the losers.
Limit one coupon per customer per visit
Not valid in conjunction with any other discount
VOID 12-15-83
OPEN TILL
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of ary
cle
host
lurnament
The Texas A&M women’s
tiis team will host a four-way
mis tournament starting at 1
n. today at the Omar Smith
nnis Courts.
Four teams — Texas A&M,
liversity of Houston, Oral
berts University and Lamar
liversity — will compete in the
:nt. The final rounds are
leduled to begin at 9 a.m.
nday.
Texas A&M coach Jan Can-
n said the Cougars are fa-
ed to win the tournament.
Both Houston and Texas
M played in the Rice Invita-
nal Nov. 11-13. Houston
ced first out of the 12 teams
peting and Texas A&M
ced third.
“Realistically, UH should be
ored,” Cannon said. “They
|t got through proving they
e stronger than us.”
eading the Houston team
be Margaret Redfearn, who
m the Southwest Conference
|gles championship last year.
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P R E S ENTS
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Film S.Narration by Bill Stockdala
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8pm Rudder Theater $3 students,sr.citizens
$2 children,12-18
Tickets available at MSC Box Office,Mon-Fri 8:30 to 4:30
and also 45 minutes before showtime
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