PHOTO: Cardinals Gibbons fullback/defensive lineman Joshua Stoneking (99).

Tom Shanahan is an author, award-winning sportswriter and college football historian focused on the sport’s integration. He earned first-place honors from the FWAA for his story on the 1962 Rose Bowl.

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By TOM SHANAHAN

RALEIGH — Football’s popularity grew by romanticizing its legends, especially those names dripping with the sound of punishing play.

Bronko Nagurski. Sam Huff. Dick Butkus. Larry Czonka. Mean Joe Greene. Well, Cardinal Gibbons contributes its own menacing name heard over the stadium loudspeakers.

“Touchdown, Stone-king!”

“Tackle, Stone-king!” As in Joshua Stoneking, Gibbons’ punishing fullback and defensive lineman.

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