During Kevin Hanenberg’s Junior season his parents were at Carnegie Melon watching his brother Keith play ball. They witnessed a long-time tradition of painting a wall that leads to the stadium. Before the players took the field, they all touched the wall.

When the Hanenberg arrived home, Mr. Hanenberg called his brothers, all of which attended Wayne Hills and told them of his experience. Shortly thereafter the Hanenberg’s went down to the Wayne Hills field tied a chain around the rock which sat by the snack bar and pulled it by pickup truck to a location near the entrance to the field. Where they painted it Maroon and painted a white hand on it. The “Tradition” of touching “The Rock” was now brought to Coach Olsen and has been in place ever since.

Each year since, the Senior Fathers have maintained “The Rock.” Over the years they have added various twists to how, when, what and who’s names get painted on it. It has been reserved exclusively for Senior Players but every once in a while an underclassman’s name and number may appear. This can only happen by vote of that years Rock Committee. To our knowledge it has only been done 3 times and I believe those players were Chris Zambelli, Joe Giampapa and Justin Dubin. Do you think being an Inside Linebacker has something to do with it?

In 2002, after winning our first State Championship” the committee added a flag pole to the area near the rock where an American Flag and Wayne Hills flag proudly fly.

In 2004, Vandals struck the night before our game and poured blue paint on the rock. The fathers immediately responded and the rock was repainted prior to the game.

In 2006 vandals struck again and stole the flag pole and tried to steal the rock. The fathers responded quickly enlisting the help of Detective Ogden and the flagpole was tracked down. By the next day the area was restored and “Lojack” was installed in the rock.

“The Rock” has traveled two times to Giant Stadium for State Championship games. The outcomes of those games were not favorable and it has not been moved since. Some fathers wanted to bring “The Rock” to Demarest in 2004 but that decision was vetoed by our Athletic Director (superstition). We won our second state championship that year at Demarest.

In 2005 Ed Rolf and Tony Giampapa got together and discussed the possibility of creating an exact duplicate. Ed Rolf and his partner Paul Tahan owners of “Silk City Stone” donated all materials to create the mold and “The Traveling Rock.”

The original mold was created by Ed Rolf, Tony Giampapa and a representative of a company who Ed Rolf new and who supplied those type of materials. That mold was confiscated by the Sales Representatives Company and he nearly lost his job. Ed Rolf then spent another whole day making another mold by himself. Folklore has it that the soil from Patriot Stadium was mixed into the compound creating the perfectly cloned “Traveling Rock”.

Since the creation of the rock it has traveled to every away game by pickup truck or car so that our boys could touch it before entering the field.

The traveling rock can be spotted at various times traveling around Wayne. One night after a game, while Coach Olsen was about to enter the Outback, he overheard an older couple talking. The conversation went something like this “Look honey, The Wayne Hills mascot rock is at the Outback” as they gazed at the rock sitting on the back of a pickup truck in the Outback parking lot.

In 2007 the traveling rock visited Giant Stadium for the State Championship game against Wayne Valley. The “Rock” proudly received a police escort “to and from” the stadium. With the win at Giant Stadium the traveling “Rock” has a flawless record and has never seen defeat.

In 2008 the “Rock” had a turbulent time. It was the center of a “Terrorist Attack” the night before a playoff game against Pascack Valley. Now, no formal organization claimed responsibility for the act and the head of WBI (Wayne Bureau of Investigation) Paul Ogden, never was able to arrest the terrorists. The terrorists dumped Orange and Green paint over the entire rock and surrounding area. The head of the WBI was notified of the incident by Tony Giampapa who was notified through a series of encrypted messages by a Secret Agent code name “Devil Dog”. Tony Giampapa and Paul Ogden met at ground zero bright an early the next morning. They promptly called the “Calvary” Mrs. Durderno, Mrs. Drake, and of course “Freddie”. The “Rock” and surrounding area was transformed into its original state by game time.

The “Traveling Rock” maintained its undefeated status in 2008 and again was escorted by the Police to Giant Stadium. This year the “Rock” escort included the Wayne Hills Football Flag which flew proudly over the “Rock” as it traveled.

On September 24th, 2010 history was made when everything went black at Wayne Hills including "The Rock". To celebrate the unveiling of Wayne Hills new Uniforms, as the team left the field from warm ups the "Rock" changed colors! The 2010 Rock crew led by Bob Garrone along with graphic arts specialist Mrs. Garrone went to work! The rock was sprayed black in front of the capacity crowd, and the MSG varsity TV crew with AC/DC's Back in Black being blasted through the stadium! Final touches were completed by the graphic arts team and the night it went black was complete!

The Traveling Rock has become quite the traveler, and has traveled to Met Life Stadium numerous times, Rutgers Stadium and out of state for one game per year.

• 2016 Pahokee, Florida 

• 2017 Canton, Ohio

• 2018 Timpview, Utah

• 2019 Ridge View, South Carolina

If anyone has some “Rock” stories that they feel should be added to its" legend please let the “Rock Committee” know.