When the boys began building rockets, Homer once joked that maybe they would have something to put in the trophy case to go along with all the football trophies.  Jim laughs at Homer being a big sissy and there's no way they are going to get something in there.

But after the whole town gets behind the effort at the science fair, and particularly after the successes at the national science fair, the principal puts Homer's medal in the trophy case along with an "award certificate" that read:

A Study of Amateur Rocketry Techniques

Homer H. Hickam, Jr.

Big Creek High School

War, West Virginia

Gold and Silver Award

1960

So the folks at the high school will always have their reminder that they weren't just great at football!