In 2009, Rutgers Stadium was enclosed and gained more seats but lost a traditional spot on a nearby hill for its cannon firings. The story of the current cannon was in the November 14, 1971 Rutgers-Holy Cross program, “It started as a wild dream, over two years ago, when Ted Stier, ’49, with a little help from his son, Rick, now a member of the Class of ’73, suggested to the 20th Reunion Committee that a revolutionary muzzle-loading cannon be the class gift and presented at the football centennial game in 1969. A formal order for a full size cannon was placed in May of 1969 with the Lentz Heavy Carriage Company of Cleveland, Ohio, an outfit that specialized in the building and restoration of cannons for state and federal agencies, historical societies and other groups interested in ancient artillery. After two frustrating seasons, 1949 class correspondent Jim Handford was assigned the task to ‘get the gun in’71.” He delivered, and on the morning of the Columbia game (October 23, 1971), the class of ‘49’s reunion gift rolled into Rutgers Stadium… Stier describes the cannon… as ‘an authentic ¾ scale model of a revolutionary war artillery piece. The barrel bears the crest of George II in relief, and is of a design used by Muller of England, and published in his Treatise of 1759. It is slightly over nine feet long from the end of the carriage to the tip of the barrel, and is nearly five feet from wheel hub to wheel hub.” In 2010, a new spot was designated for the cannon along the sidelines on the field. The Second Regiment, Middlesex County Militia oversees its firing.
