Scholarship Established to Honor Fallen Football Star
01/12/2024
by Brett Buckner
Pam Baker-King was a Jacksonville High School cheerleader when she witnessed the hit that took the life of her childhood friend.
It was Oct. 6, 1972. During the third quarter of a football game against a local rival high school, Anthony Odell “Speedy” Cannon – a 17-year-old star running back and team captain – took a handoff and broke it wide right for a 20-yard gain before being knocked out of bounds. After the play, an opponent delivered a late helmet-to-helmet hit, receiving a 15-yard penalty.
“I just remember kneeling down and waiting,” said Baker-King. “I was so scared.”
Dee Salls was on the field that night as a member of the JHS team. “I remember a couple of guys picked him up and he had a blank stare on his face,” Salls said. “That’s the last memory I have of him.”
Cannon died from a brain hemorrhage at 3:15 a.m. at Carraway Methodist Hospital in Birmingham, having never regained consciousness. It was a tragedy that shocked the entire community.
Salls and Baker-King never forgot the young man everyone knew as “Speedy.” Neither did the classmates who once elected him junior class president. On Oct. 6, 2023 – 51 years to the day of his last run – football players, cheerleaders and band members from the JHS Class of 1973 announced their intention to establish a scholarship in his name at Jacksonville State University.
Beginning in Fall 2024, the Anthony "Speedy" Cannon Endowed Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a student from Calhoun County who has maintained a 2.5 GPA, with a preference given to African-American applicants.
“People need to remember,” said Baker-King, who now lives in Cedartown, Ga. “This is a legacy. We don’t need to let things like this be forgotten. It’s like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter’.”
Baker-King and Cannon grew up together in Jacksonville’s historically black neighborhood of Eastwood. They became agents of change at a young age, when in 1965 as fifth graders they were among a small group of children who integrated what would later become known as Kitty Stone Elementary School. They often walked to school together, fearing for their safety. But Cannon kept his cool, encouraging Baker-King to do the same.
“It’s just like how Dr. King was non-violent, Speedy was like that, too,” Baker-King said, laughing. “A lot of times, he’d pull me to the side and tell me to close my mouth. He was very soft spoken. I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice.”
According to legend, the 5’10, 175-pound “Speedy” could sprint the length of a football field in under 10 seconds – a talent that was already gaining the attention of college football scouts. Sadly, his life and dreams of college were cut short.
Baker-King and Salls enrolled at JSU after college, where Salls met his wife, Becky. All three earned education degrees. Baker-King worked as a special education teacher in Georgia before retiring in 2011. She also founded “Youth Working Together for a Speedy Awareness,” a nonprofit organization for black students that emphasizes the importance of literacy.
“If it wasn’t for Pam, his name would have been forgotten years ago,” said Salls, who went into the fitness industry while Becky spent 42 years in the classroom. “A lot of scholarships have been talked about, but none followed through with. We had to get this established so his name – and Pam’s name – will live on forever.”
To contribute to this scholarship fund, visit www.jsu.edu/givejsu, select “Make a Gift,” choose “Scholarship Support” in the drop-down box and select “Anthony Speedy Cannon Endowed Memorial Scholarship.” For more information or assistance, contact Diane Winsor at 256-782-5603 or dwinsor@jsu.edu.