Howard's Rock at Clemson vandalized

Howard's Rock, the iconic fixture Clemson players rub prior to running down the hill during the football team's entrance into Memorial Stadium, was vandalized on June 2 or June 3, according to a university press release. A portion was broken off its pedestal after the casing built to protect it after previous vandalism in 1992 was broken.

"We take vandalism, especially of such an important part of our history, very seriously," Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said, according to the release. "Police are investigating."

The pedestal supporting the rock was not damaged. A new case covers it.

The rock was given to then-Clemson football coach Frank Howard in the early 1960s by a friend who'd traveled to Death Valley, Calif. A recording of Howard recounting his urging for players to give "110 percent" or keep their "filthy hands off my rock" is played before games, still.

Michael Burns also writes for the Greenville News, a Gannett property