Walked the campus today and listened to the speeches and watched the fireworks. All of it great -- especially the fireworks show. But I also had a chance to meet the Cannon crew that fired off a round or two in front of Old Queens. It turns out one of the cannoneers was the business manager of WRSU when I was just starting there. I knew his name but we got to know each other much more today than we did in those days* (*when dinosaurs still roamed the earth and most of main campus).
Anyway, I learned a few things about the Cannon:
1) It has never left the campus except one time. On September 11, 1976, it was taken to Annapolis and fired at the Rutgers-Navy game as part of Navy's Bi-Centennial Celebration.
2) "But I specifically remember the Cannon going off all those times when Rutgers played at Giants Stadium" you say? That wasn't the Rutgers Class of 1949 Cannon. The Cannon crew once helped a Mr. Force, owner of a private piece down in Monmouth County, get his cannon working again. For the help, he volunteered to take his cannon to Giants Stadium for its use.
3) The Cannon was once stored in a room under the bleachers in original Rutgers Stadium but is now stored on the Livingston Campus when not in use.
and boom goes the dynamite.
Anyway, I learned a few things about the Cannon:
1) It has never left the campus except one time. On September 11, 1976, it was taken to Annapolis and fired at the Rutgers-Navy game as part of Navy's Bi-Centennial Celebration.
2) "But I specifically remember the Cannon going off all those times when Rutgers played at Giants Stadium" you say? That wasn't the Rutgers Class of 1949 Cannon. The Cannon crew once helped a Mr. Force, owner of a private piece down in Monmouth County, get his cannon working again. For the help, he volunteered to take his cannon to Giants Stadium for its use.
3) The Cannon was once stored in a room under the bleachers in original Rutgers Stadium but is now stored on the Livingston Campus when not in use.
and boom goes the dynamite.
