The Southeastern Conference has lost a couple of its resident living legends recently.

Former Ole Miss football coach Billy Brewer and LSU running back Billy Cannon died a week apart, on May 12 and 19, respectively. A first name and football prowess weren’t the only things they had in common.

Both of them played in the famous game on Halloween 1959, when Cannon returned a punt 89 yards for a touchdown to give LSU a 7-3 victory. Less famously, they met in the rematch on New Year’s Day 1960 when Ole Miss thumped the Tigers 21-0 in the Sugar Bowl.

Cannon’s punt return became the most famous play in LSU football history and helped him become the school’s only Heisman Trophy winner. Brewer was a defensive back for Ole Miss, but mostly carved his legend a couple of decades later as its head coach.

While both were beloved for their successes, however, it might have been the way they handled their struggles that truly endeared them to fans at both schools.

Brewer ran afoul of NCAA recruiting rules during his coaching tenure. The Rebels were put on probation twice in his 10 years as coach from 1983-93. During the same period, Cannon was running afoul of the law. He spent 2 ½ years in a federal prison in the 1980s for his role in a counterfeiting scheme.

Far from being tarnished icons, Brewer and Cannon emerged from their scandals as beloved as ever. By all accounts Brewer was a kind and generous man who was loved by former teammates and players. The way he treated people allowed them to look past his shortcomings and mistakes.

Cannon paid the price for his crimes and made an effort to give back to society. He had become a dentist after his pro football career ended, and in the mid-1990s helped restructure the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s dental care program.

By the time of their deaths, both Brewer and Cannon had cleaned up their public images. Ole Miss fans who came of age in the 1980s and 90s fondly remembered Brewer as “their coach” and a great man, not a cheater who got the Rebels in trouble. For LSU fans of the 1990s and 2000s, Billy Cannon was the Heisman Trophy winning football legend, not the reprobate counterfeiter.

Both men made mistakes, showed us that it’s not always what you do wrong but what you do to fix it that defines you. They left complicated legacies, but also legacies worth celebrating.

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Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com