Mike Shannon dies at 83, Cause of Death

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homas Michael Shannon was maybe the finest high school athlete the St. Louis region has ever produced. Shannon was named Missouri high school athlete of the year in both football and basketball while at CBC, thought to be the first time in state history.

Shannon, who died late Saturday night, moved on to the University of Missouri, where he was a freshman football team star (freshmen couldn’t play on the varsity team back then). Shannon’s coach at the time, Frank Broyles, subsequently stated that if Shannon had continued in school, he may have won the Heisman Trophy, which is presented to the top college football player.

However, he signed a big-bonus contract with the Cardinals in 1958 and went on to play nine seasons in the major leagues before being forced to retire after the 1970 season due to nephritis, a kidney ailment that not only ended his career but nearly killed him.

“They were throwing dirt on me,” Shannon said in an interview a few years ago. “I made a pact with The Man Upstairs. I had five kids, and my wife was only 29 years old. I said, ‘If you’ll let me live until the kids are grown, then I’ll do the best I can.’