RALEIGH—North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame coach Bob Paroli received a championship ring last Saturday—although it was more than 50 years after the fact.

       Paroli, whose teams earned 403 victories during a stellar 55-year high school coaching career, was part of a special ceremony at Carter-Finley Stadium, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

       Paroli was part of the North Carolina State football team in 1957, the first Wolfpack team to win an Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the fledgling league.  But championship rings were not offered in those days.

        The NCSU athletic department, under the direction of athletic director Debbie Yow, decided to honor the team and a number of the surviving players from that squad made it to Raleigh for the special ceremony.

        The veteran coach guided the 2008 Seventy-First football team to an NCHSAA state championship.