glass of his truck and there was Clemson memorabilia in his home.

"I'll make you draw your own conclusions with that," Hendricks said.

Howard's Rock has been a fixture for Clemson football since the late 1960s when the stone was brought to campus from Death Valley, Calif., by Samuel C. Jones, a close friend of then-coach Frank Howard. The coach had little use for it until school booster Gene Willimon affixed to a pedestal and placed it at the entrance of Memorial Stadium.

Legend has it that during the 1967 season Howard told his players if they didn't want to give maximum effort they should "keep your filthy hands off of my rock." Ever since, Tiger players gather at the pedestal and rub the rock for good luck before rushing downthe hill for games.

It left for a two-month period before the 2000 season when John Fernandez's granite sawing company worked to fit it on a new pedestal. Fernandez was a 1969 Clemson graduate who said the rock was only out of his sight while he slept. He even held a cookout with the rock as the guest of honor.

The rock sits on a black granite base with the inscription, "Howard's Rock. From Death Valley, CA, to Death Valley, SC."

Former Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis said the power of the rock comes from knowing how hard others who stood there before you worked to make the Tigers a success. "The power comes from the individual touching the rock. You understand the numerous athletes that paid the price for you to