The Touchdown Cannon

One of Sigma Alpha Sigma's most cherished symbols is the cannon used to celebrate touchdowns at home football games. Apparently, they are unaware that the cannon rightfully belongs to Rho Sigma. Ouachita decided to purchase a touchdown cannon sometime in the late 1950's or early 1960's. Ouachita's business manager, James Orr, contacted military authorities in Fort Sill, Oklahoma and found a suitable gun that could be purchased from surplus stocks. Although the price quoted was $75, Ouachita obtained it for the cost of freight charges to ship it to Arkadelphia. When Maj. Harold Fuqua, assistant professor of military science, arrived at OBU, he found the gun -- a World War II vintage 55-mm pack howitzer in poor condition -- sitting in front of the military department offices in the old Walton Gymnasium (where the Commons is now). Fuqua ordered the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets to put the gun in proper firing order and "paint it any color but the olive drab of the Army." The cannon was soon a fixture of home football games, painted an orange-yellow with black tiger stripes. The howitzer, which fired blank shell casings half-filled with black powder and sealed with wax, produced an ear-splitting sound and emitted a huge cloud of white smoke from its muzzle. At first, the honor of firing the cannon was given to members of Scabbard and Blade, a national military honor society (composed largely of Red Shirts). In Fall 1963, Scab & Jab turned custody of the gun over to the other national military society on campus, the Pershing Rifles (also mainly Red Shirts). The cannon was abandoned in 1965 when an order to cease firing it was received from ROTC headquarters. The ban was issued after a small girl was seriously injured in a cannon firing at another college. The howitzer languished for a year. Rho Sigma, already the dominant force in campus athletic and spirit activities, asked for permission to sponsor it. The ROTC department readily complied, but was soon over-ruled by the college administration. Fearing a Red Shirt monopoly on spirit, they turned custody of the cannon over to Sigma Alpha Sigma members, who had not even asked for it! The S's painted the cannon blue after a few years. The original cannon suffered through a few spikings and vandalizations before being stolen in 1977. Sigma Alpha Sigma replaced it in Fall 1978 with a smaller cannon purhased from the Dixie Gun Works. There have been other cannons since that time. The most recent cannon was installed as a memorial to SAS alumnus Chris Dunaway, who was killed in an Army training accident. However, the cannon was stolen in Fall 2008.

The original touchdown cannon -- shown above as it appeared in the late Sixties -- had originally been given to Rho Sigma. Fearing a spirit monopoly by the Red Shirts, the administration turned the cannon over to Sigma Alpha Sigma, even though the S's had not even asked for it!