Billy Cannon, Jr.

Billy Abb Cannon, Jr. (born October 8, 1962 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Texas A&M University and was drafted in the first round (25th overall) of the 1984 NFL Draft.

Cannon's NFL career ended on October 21, 1984, when he suffered a spinal injury while making a tackle in a game against the New Orleans Saints. Damage to two vertebrae near his neck, combined with a congenital narrowing at the top of his spinal column, meant that he was risking paralysis if he continued to play football.

His father, Billy Cannon played in the AFL and the NFL, and won the Heisman Trophy during his senior year at LSU.