"Skipper" is the name of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets' cannon that is sounded at home football games and other events.

Virginia Tech is one of six universities, outside of the four service academies with an active cadet corps on campus, and is designated as a senior military college.

[7][8][9][10] In 1962, two juniors in the Alpha Company of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, Alton "Butch" Harper and Homer "Sonny" Hickam, made a solemn pact to have a reply for VMI in 1963 and build the 'largest game cannon in the world.'

To make things slightly easier, Harper was named to the Regimental Staff, allowing him direct access to alumni to ask for donations.

[7][10] Hickam, Harper, and Fox held sixteen 'show & tell' type meetings where the mold was exhibited and explained to every cadet in every company and squadron on campus.

Large brass gears were obtained from a coal mine in Coalwood, West Virginia where Hickam's father was the superintendent.

The foundry's president, Paul Huffman was sworn to secrecy and when the cadets asked about the forging price, he replied "You don't have enough, but I'm a member of the Corps Class of '37 and VPI has needed a cannon for a long time.

When the brass was poured into the vat for melting, a series of small explosions erupted, sending everyone ducking for cover from the sound of gunfire.

They located a woodworking shop that specialized in era-appropriate, Civil War gun carriages at Lorton Reformatory, near Washington D.C.

It took the entire group to load the carriage into the truck and they started the trek home, excited to show the Corps of Cadets its new cannon.

They continued home with dampened spirits, only to learn he had died before they returned to Blacksburg, pre-empting any type of celebratory reception awaiting them on campus.

The cadets filled scavenged plastic ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles with black gunpowder for the charges, topped with an ordinary cherry bomb for the fuse.

fifty Virginia Tech cadets emerged from under the bleachers, pulling the 1,000 pound cannon with two heavy ropes.

As Skipper entered the stadium, the Highty-Tighties played, "The Parade of the Charioteers", a grand song from the movie, Ben Hur.

After one touchdown, late in the game, the cadets gave Skipper a triple-charge, which sent a shock wave across the field and through the stands, cracking the plate glass windows in the press box.

The public address announcer and a nearby policeman immediately directed the cadets to aim Skipper away from the press box.

Skipper's original carriage was serviceable, so focusing on the barrel design, Huffman traveled to Gettysburg Battlefield for research and selected a Confederate iron rifle to replicate.

Skipper's home is often referred to as the “Cave.” [14] The glass enclosure is situated in a highly visible location in the Upper Quad, adjacent to Pearson Hall East's main lobby and easily accessible for all students, alumni, and visitors to admire Skipper between home games and during the off-season.

Beginning in 2014, Skipper has been on hand to sound the start of festivities at the "Hokie Village", a family oriented tailgate located near the stadium at all home games.

[2][3][5][18][19][20] Skipper is sounded at the conclusion of the Caldwell March, a traditional hike by freshman cadets every fall and spring semester.

Each leg is 13 miles commemorating the journey made by Addison Caldwell, Virginia Tech's first student from his farm in Craig County.

[11][2] On September 10, 2016, for the first time in its history, Skipper traveled outside the Commonwealth of Virginia for the Battle at Bristol, the kickoff game against the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

The book chronicles Hickam's life after high school, including his years as a student at Virginia Tech in the early 1960s when he, and some fellow cadets made "Skipper" [23]