KIRBY CANNON
Baseball, 1977-80
Inducted February 5, 2011

Kirby Cannon was a four-year starting right-handed pitcher and a top winner for the baseball Bears of coach Bill Rowe from 1977 to 1980. Cannon played on four straight Missouri State teams which reached NCAA Division II tournament play. Missouri State grabbed a regional tournament championship and qualified for the NCAA Division II World Series in 1978, and the Bears won the school's final MIAA league title in 1979. When he graduated, Cannon owned school career marks of 25 wins and 236 innings pitched. He was the Bears' Rookie of the Year as a freshman and was the top winner on the mound staff with eight victories for the 1979 ballclub. Cannon was also two-year Bears' football letterman as a quarterback. He has coached college football most of the time since he graduated, including a 10-year stint as head coach at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla. He is currently on the football coaching staff at Central Michigan University.