1958 John DeVeaux becomes the first African-American president of the men's student government. An early-morning fire at a Skytop Air Force barrack kills seven student airmen. The unbeaten football team culminates its only national championship season with a win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day. Valedictorian and future novelist Joyce Carol Oates is determined not to give the traditional student address at Commencement. SU officials tell her rain will be her only excuse for not speaking at the outdoor ceremony in Archbold Stadium.
Commencement arrives, and so does the rain.
1960 Use of the Alpha Tau Omega cannon, fired after SU touchdowns in Archbold Stadium since 1922, is indefinitely suspended after an accident injures five students during the Penn State game.