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annon turns love of sports into career
&M Sports Information Director began as baseball walk-on
By Jeff Osborne
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Alan Cannon has turned a life
long love of sports into a career. Be
ginning with childhood dreams of
Becoming a baseball star to his ap
pointment as Sports News Director
at Texas A&M, athletics have played
■ big role in his life.
Cannon started as a walk-on base-
lall player for the Aggies in 1980.
de served as a student assistant in
[he sports news department for
hree years, and as a graduate assis-
[ant for one year. In 1985, Cannon
Profile:
Alan Cannon
as promoted to sports news assis
tant. In February, he was named di-
ectorof the department.
I Cannon was named sports news
£lW ire(:t()I ,(> re pl ace J°hn Keith when
VI i. John David Crow and R.C. Slocum
eplaced Jackie Sherrill in the capac-
, . ities of athletic director and head
tH football coach. Keith left A&M for a
J I position with the Houston Oilers
when A&M did not renew his con-
t in the) Jract,
As a result of Keith’s departure,
Cannon said, “we more or less lost a
person in the department, and I
don’t belive we will get a replace
ment.” Keith specialized in football
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publicity, and now this responsibility
belongs to Cannon.
“I look forward to coming in to
the office each day,” Cannon said.
“It’s not your average nine to five
job. I have friends I went to school
with who work in banks and they
dread going to work each morning.
It’s not that way for me.
Sometimes I put in a 16 or 20
hour day with the baseball regional,”
he said.
Although the work Cannon does
is time consuming, he said he enjoys
it.
“We’re on call,” he said, mention
ing a time when a newspaper editor
form San Angelo called him at home
one evening at eight o’clock to con
firm a story. “It’s part of my job,” he
said. “I may be sitting at home but
for five to 10 minutes be at my job.”
He got his first experience in
sports information when he was a se
nior in high school at Dallas Skyline.
During this time, he worked for the
sports information office at South
ern Methodist University. Bob Con-
dron, now the director of the United
States Olympic Committee, was di
rector of the department.
Condron, along with his assistant
Maxie Parrish, now director of
sports information at Baylor Univer
sity, helped influence Cannon to stay
with sports information as a career.
Cannon said that Robert Car
penter of Texas A&M, who “is a
member of the Sports Information
Directors’ Hall of Fame and one of
the most respected guys in the busi
ness,” along with Bill Little, who
publicized baseball and serves as
sports information director for the
University of Texas at Austin, also
had a influence on him.
“Sports information has gotten
into my blood, and that’s the area I
want to pursue,” Cannon said.
The highlight of his job, he said,
are the close relationships that de
velop between he and the players
and coaches. “It’s hard for me to de
scribe the feeling I have for mem
bers of the baseball team, from
coaches and players right on down
the line to the Diamond Darlings,”
he said, adding that there is a family
atmosphere.
He described the role of the
sports news department as the liai
son between the athletic department
and the media. “We publish individ
ual statsitics in a positive manner.
We also have a hisorian role,” he
said, mentioning that the depart
ment was publicizing the 50th anni
versary of Texas A&M’s 1939 Na
tional Championship in football.
“Now, we’re working on the foot
ball press guide,” Cannon said,
“which is pretty in depth. We put out
guides and programs for all the
sports at A&M.”
He said that one of the worst as
pects of his job is not being able to
show emotion to the media. “Being
in our position, you’re not allowed
the highs and lows. Like the media,
you have to be objective. I may be
hurting very much inside after a
tough loss, but cannot show that out
wardly. I still have to do my job.”
Cannon attended the College
Sports Information Directors of
America conference workshop in
WashingtonJuly 1-6.
He said one of his objectives was
to seek out people who have publi
cized information on Heisman Tro
phy contenders, like the sports in
formation director for Notre Dame.
“I want to see how they handled
the media pressure revolving
around a Heisman Trophy candi
date. We have a legtimate candidate
in Darren Lewis. I will be making
sure that everyone on a national
scale who votes (for the Heisman
winner) is on the mailing list and is
informed of Lewis’ accomplish
ments.
We will be putting out fliers and
brochures, and Lewis will be dis
played prominently in the media
guide. On Sunday morning, I will
put information about him in the
mail and schedule interviews for
maximum exposure. I’m just there
to help, but Darren has to put up the
numbers on the field.”
Members of the sports news de-
partment develop a close
relationship with coaches and other
members of the athletic department,
See Cannon/Page 8
Staubach not seeking commissioner’s job
DALLAS (AP) — Former Dallas
Cowboys’ quarterback Roger Stau
bach said on Monday he didn’t wish
to be nominated to fill the NFL’s
soon-to-be vacant commissioner’s
post and Tex Schramm repeated
that he didn’t think he would be a
“viable candidate.”
The Los Angeles Times reported
that Schramm, who headed the
Cowboys for 29 years, and Staubach,
a 1970s Dallas quarterback named to
the Hall of Fame, will be nominated
this week to the post being vacated
by Pete Rozelle.
I have a great deal of gratitude
and respect tor the NFL and it’s an
attractive thought to be considered
for commissioner,” Staubach said.
“However, at this time my life is
consumed with building my real es
tate company on a national basis and
I am committed to this goal. I like
the challenge of the real estate busi
ness and I am enjoying it. I will have
to say ‘no’ to the nomination for
commissioner.”
Schramm said, “I still feel that
over the long haul my age (69)
wouldn’t make it practical to name
me. It’s also hard to put stock in ru
mors the principle has no knowledge
of what’s going on. ”
Schramm did say that if the NFL
came to an impasse he might bail
them out for a year or so.
“I’ve been in the NFL 39 years
and it’s been the better part of my
life and if I could help I would, al
though presently I’m very interested
in bringing professional football to
the rest of the world,” Schramm
said. “However, nobody has talked
to me.”
Schramm heads the NFL’s pro
posed international league, called
the Worldwide League of American
Football.
New Orleans Saints executive Jim
Finks was nominated by the league’s
search committee to fill the post be
ing vacated by Pete Rozelle, but
Finks’ appointment was blocked by a
dissident minority of 11 team own
ers, a faction now numbering 12.
“I wish you wouldn’t call us mi
nority owners,” said Mike Lynn,
president of the Minnesota Vikings
and one of the dozen. “It’s the six-
man (search committee) that’s in the
minority. They didn’t give the 22
(other owners) any information.”
Staubach appeals to several own
ers because of his success as a busi
nessman, according to anonymous
league sources cited by the newspa
per.
Oregon becomes 1 st state
to approve lottery contest
for NFL point spreads
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Or
egon Lottery Commission ap
proved rules for a new game
Monday that makes Oregon the
only state with a lottery contest
based on NFL point spreads.
The commission on a 5-0 vote
endorsed the game despite the
objections of an NFL attorney,
who said the action would harm
the integrity of professional foot
ball.
No further approval is needed
for the lottery, and ticket sales are
to begin Sept. 6 for the NFL’s
first week of games on Sept. 10.
Proceeds from the game, called
“Sports Action,” are to go to Ore
gon college and university inter
collegiate sports programs, which
now receive no state funding.
In the football lottery, a $1 in
vestment will allow players to pre
dict the outcome of some or all of
the 14 weekly NFL games against
the point spreads set by Nevada
oddsmakers.
Under rules of the game, play
ers will try to predict the outcome
of four to 14 games against the
point spreads. The more games
they bet, the more money they
could win, from about $8 for a
perfect four-game card to about
$>8,000 for a perfect 14-game
card.
NFL attorney Jim Noel told the
commission the game would cre
ate a situation in which fans are
more interested in point spreads
than how their favorite teams
fare.
Noel said the league is con
cerned that Oregon “is on the
brink of triggering a nationwide
trend.”
“The entire nation is watch
ing,” he said. “Lottery officials in
other states have stated publicly
that if Oregon does this success
fully, they will try it, too.”
Noel also said the NFL would
consider legal action to block the
contest.
“We didn’t come out here to
threaten anyone,” he said. But,
he added, “There are some very
viable legal issues here that we’re
going to evaluate.”
The NFL. took Delaware to
court when that state tried a foot
ball betting game, but the lawsuit
became moot after Delaware gave
up its game after one season in
1974 because it lost money.
In approving the new game,
Lottery Commission members
noted that betting on professional
sports already is widespread in
Oregon and around the country.
They said many people take
part in office football pools or bet
on games through bookmakers,
either illegally or through opera
tions in Nevada, the only state
that allows gambling on team
sports.
Commission member Mike
Schwartz of Eugene said he
thinks the NFL should embrace
the idea as an opportunity to
market professional football to
new audiences.
“It will make people more ex
cited about NFL football,”
Schwartz said.
Noel rejected that argument,
and said the NFL does not want
to see an expansion of gambling
on professional sports.
“The net effect of the Oregon
Lottery game will be to increase
the overall volume of betting on
NFL football,” the league attor
ney said.
The 1989 Oregon Legislature
approved a bill calling on the Lot
tery Commission to create a
sports-oriented game to generate
money for college sports. Davey
and the lottery staff put together
the specifics of the NFL contest.
Davey estimates the game will
generate between $4 million and
$>9 million each year for Oregon
intercollegiate sports.
Athletic directors at the Uni
versity of Oregon and Oregon
State University say state aid is es
sential if the two schools are to re
main in the Pacific 10 Confer-
SUPBiCUTS
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