BATON ROUGE - The grand opening of the Billy Cannon exhibit at the Capitol Park Museum took place Tuesday evening.

It highlights his whole life, from his football career to his life working in Angola. His daughter and friend say he wasn't just a legend on the field. They reflected on the impact he made off the field. 

His daughter Bunnie says she wants people to know who her father truly was. 

"He loved people. He was very kind, very humble," she said.

Following his successful football career, the Istrouma High alum operated an orthodontics practice here in Baton Rouge. But in 1983, Cannon was arrested on counterfeit charges. After his release from federal prison, he continued to practice dentistry. Eventually, he became a dentist at Angola and was in charge of the medical center. Bunnie says he strived to make a difference in healthcare in the prison. 

"He was lobbying Congress to get the pharmacy put back into Angola because they had taken the pharmacy, they out-sourced it. So if you had a toothache, you couldn't get pain medicine, you couldn't get an aspirin, you had to wait three weeks. Well some people were dying," she said.

But he didn't do it alone. Roosevelt Hall was a trustee in Angola. He helped Cannon make the change in the prison. 

"Being in prison and when you find someone that cares for you, it means a lot. He was one of the ones that cared for us," he said. 

Both say Cannon left a mark on the facility. 

"He came there and he changed things around for the good and better. For all employees and for the prisoners. And I saw that continue when he left," Hall said.

"Billy Graham and my dad both had caskets made from prisoners in Angola, the only difference is the prisoners used their commissary money to pay for my dad's. That's what he meant to them," Bunnie said.

The exhibit will run until January 10, 2026.