wsls
BLACKSBURG, Va. — The thunderous blast that follows every Virginia Tech touchdown has its roots in a long-forgotten rivalry and a covert mission by a group of cadets determined to forge their own legacy. More than just a crowd-pleaser, the Skipper cannon's roar transports the program back to an era when tradition was not granted by the administration but earned through sheer will.
Homer "Sonny" Hickam, then a member of Alpha Company in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, first conceived the idea during the annual Thanksgiving Day clash with in-state rival VMI. Watching VMI's small cannon, affectionately named "Little John," produce a perfect smoke ring while cadets taunted with chants of "Wheres your cannon?" sparked a determination in Hickam and a few fellow cadets to answer back in kind.
"They got over us because they had this little cannon," Hickam recalled. "It was little, but they would fire it off, and it would make a perfect smoke ring, and they would start chanting, 'Wheres your cannon? Wheres your cannon?"
That taunt ignited a fire. With no budget, no official approval, and no sanctioned materials, Hickam and fellow cadet Butch Harper took the lead on a secret project. They acquired the carriage from Lorton Reformatory, while the brass barrel was donated and forged free of charge by Paul Huffman, a former VPI cadet from the class of 1937, at the Virginia Foundry Company in Roanoke. The cannon was built in complete secrecy, tested under the cover of darkness, and hidden until the pivotal 1963 showdown with VMI at Victory Stadium in Roanoke.
The First Thunder
As the teams took the field, VMI fired Little John, unleashing its signature smoke ring. Hickam, who was present, received an order from a regimental staff member to fire Virginia Tech's newly constructed weapon. "The football teams came out and started their little drill on the football field, and then Little John came out," Hickam said. "VMI fired it — the perfect smoke ring — 'Wheres your cannon? Wheres your cannon?' Then came the order: 'Fire Skipper.' So I fired it."
The result was overwhelming. "It went off exceedingly loud. Huge power of smoke covered up the poor VMI football team," Hickam recounted. The shock wave swept across the field, literally blowing hats off VMI's cadet corps on the opposite side. Rumors even circulated that the blast cracked the press box glass. Amid the chaos, Hickam heard the Virginia Tech Corps chanting back, "Heres our cannon! Heres our cannon!"
A Tradition That Almost Wasn't
Today, Skipper is fired after every Hokies touchdown, but its future was uncertain following that debut. Hickam noted that the cannon was built specifically for that rivalry game, and the cadets were unsure whether the university would allow them to keep it. "As far as we knew, the Virginia Tech administration would take it away from us," Hickam said. "They would take it and throw it in the duck pond."
Instead, the tradition was kept alive by subsequent classes of cadets. "It was the cadet corps after us that really made it into the icon that it is today," Hickam said. "They started using Skipper every football game — every home football game. The story just became legendary as to how it happened." The name "Skipper" pays tribute to President John F. Kennedy, who commanded a PT boat during World War II and was assassinated just before the cannon's first blast.
More than six decades later, Skipper remains one of the most recognizable sounds in Lane Stadium, a testament to the fact that some of college football's greatest traditions are born far from the administration's planning rooms. Hickam, who later gained fame as a NASA engineer and best-selling author of "Rocket Boys" — adapted into the film "October Sky" — forever etched his name into Hokies lore with that clandestine artillery project.
Originally reported by wsls.