The Fremont Cannon
From a failed prank, to a full-blown tradition, the story of the “Battle for Nevada” is as colorful as the cannon itself.
History
The battle for the Fremont Cannon, has its roots in a foiled prank from 1965. Student body president Tom Hribar of Nevada Southern University (soon to become UNLV) attempted to steal a cannon from the University of Nevada, Reno's campus.
It all started on a chilly December night in 1965. A group of student leaders concocted a plan to steal one of the WWI cannons that sat on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. The group included Tom Hribar, George "Chip" Mills, Don Malone, Bill Cunningham, Chuck Crawford, Chuck Cooley, Ben Knowles, and J. Michael Green.
"Two of our brothers, Tom Hribar and Don Malone, took over planning of the raid," Green wrote in a Las Vegas Sun column. "Chip and his father flew to Reno on a reconnaissance mission. They returned with numerous photographs, dimensions and weight of the cannon, the size of the chain that secured the cannon to a concrete slab, a map of the campus, and — amazingly — the times and routes when security made its nocturnal rounds through campus.
After some advanced scouting, the would-be thieves rented a trailer, borrowed some tools, and made the drive to Reno. They managed to move the cannon 25 feet from its perch outside Morrill Hall before campus security thwarted their plans.
"We hightailed it back to (Las Vegas) and some of these guys spent a night in the cooler," Hribar said, chuckling over his cowardice. "I was about as immature as you could get, but we gave it a shot."
While the plan was unsuccessful, UNR leaders kept a sense of humor about the attempted theft and saw it as a chance to create a tradition.
The Original Trophy
The cannon wasn’t the first trophy exchanged in the new tradition in the battle between the Nevada schools. Originally, a bell from a clock tower on the UNR campus was exchanged between the two schools' basketball teams, going to the winner of that year's game.
The bell exchange ended a few years later, when Bill Ireland, UNLV's first football coach (and a graduate and former coach at UNR), proposed a trophy exchange for the annual rivalry game between UNR and UNLV.
Although the UNR Wolf Pack won the first game between the schools in 1969, the UNLV Rebels were the first team to win the trophy when it was awarded after the 1970 game — a 42-20 Rebels win.
The Cannon
In 1970, the Nevada Mines Division of the Kennecott Copper Corp. donated the funds to construct a trophy with special meaning to the state — a replica of the mountain howitzer that explorer John C. Fremont abandoned in the Sierra Nevada Mountains during a snowstorm in 1844. The heaviest and most expensive trophy in college football, the Fremont Cannon weighs about 545 pounds and cost $10,000 to build.
The howitzer cannon, which was fired off after every score during the game, became permanently silenced in 2000, when Rebel players and fans accidentally dropped the trophy while hoisting it in celebration of their victory.
Fighting Words
The rivalry wasn’t always kept on the football field. When the cannon was being repaired after the damages from the 2000 victory celebration, UNLV officials found some fighting words inside the cannon. The inscription of “University of Notta Lotta Victories” made fun of UNLV’s not-so-stellar record of wins. In true Rebel spirit, UNLV replied back with an inscription of “University of Northern Rejects.”
The playful rivalry continues to this day, as the two schools fight for the right to paint the Fremont Cannon in its school colors.
