Wabash Cannonball

A favorite tradition at K-State, and sometimes known as our "second fight song..." a Wabash like no other.

As the story goes, back in 1968, Nichols Hall was set ablaze by an arsonist. At the time, the music department lost all its music (or most of it) in the fire. The story continues in two versions. One has it that Phil Hewett (head director at the time, whose family you see to the left), in need of music for the pep band at the evening's basketball game, went home and found a copy of the Wabash Cannonball sheet music. When the band played a special arrangement of it that night, it caught on like wildfire (no pun intended). The other version of the story has it that out of all the music destroyed in the Nichols Hall fire, the Wabash Cannonball was the only remaining piece. Seeing this as an omen, it became a tradition.

Whichever version may be true, the Wabash Cannonball has come to symbolize K-State as, throughout all adversity, a force that keeps on charging full speed ahead.

To download the .mp3 of the Wabash Cannonball, click here