Bobby Cannon†
Inducted 1989
Born: Crockett, Texas
High School: Edinburg High School
Best Known for: Coaching – Football
One of the deans among coaches of early Valley football, Cannon built a strong program at Edinburg High School in the 1930s and led the Bobcats until his retirement in 1946 to take the helm at Edinburg Junior College.
Cannon was a two-sport athlete at The University of Texas in football and baseball at the turn of the 1920s. He was a running back for the Longhorns in 1919 and played centerfield for the Longhorn baseball team from 1916 to 1920. Texas won four straight Southwest Conference championships with Cannon in center field.
Cannon then took San Antonio Brackenridge to the state finals in 1922 and 1926. He also put in stints at Del Rio, Corpus Christi, and Peacock Military Academy.
His Edinburg Bobcat teams won district titles in 1936 and 1937 and 1941, and Cannon went 64-32-5 from 1936 to 1946. He coached Texas high school teams for 34 years and helped established the present system for the UIL state baseball tournament.
Like most coaches in the early days, Cannon led all athletic teams for the Bobcats and was an exceptionally crafty mentor in baseball. In 1961 he became the first of what would be nine Valley coaches elected to the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.