Super Bowl Ring Mystery

[Eric]

Super Bowl Ring Mystery

April 23, 2006

By Art Swift

Jerry Kramer has been a champion lineman under Vince Lombardi, a successful businessman and family man. But something's been missing from his life for a long time -- a Super Bowl ring like this one.

"Twenty-five years ago I was traveling from Chicago to New York on a United Airlines flight," Jerry Kramer told KBCI CBS 2 News. "Went to the bathroom, washed my hands, soapy water, the ring slipped off, put it on the sink."

Kramer went back to his seat, sat back down and realized after a minute that he left his ring in the bathroom. And when he went back to retrieve it...

"The ring was gone," Kramer said. "Captain gets on the PA system, pleads with whoever picked it up to give it back, the stewardess goes up and down telling people. Nobody comes forth with it."

He assumed that after ten or fifteen years he would never see the ring again, and he got a replacement from Jostens. Until a few weeks ago...

"I got a call from a guy up in Canada, Don, that's all I remember, and he said 'Jerry, have you got your Super Bowl I ring?' and immediately the antenna went up," Kramer added.

The man told Kramer that an auction house in Chicago, Mastro Auctions, had put his ring up for bidding.

The bidding started at $5,000 and went up to $20,000 with 8 hours to go. Kramer informed Mastro about what happened, and they yanked the ring from auction.

Kramer says he is working with the Attorney General of Illinois to recover the ring, and expects it back within days. He's curious where it's been since the disappearance on the plane.

"On my website I ask people if they've seen the ring or know anything about the ring or been offered the ring for sale or anything over the last 25 years," said Kramer. "Because it is kind of intriguing to wonder where it has been or what it's been doing for 25 years."

Kramer says he probably won't pursue legal damages if he can find out who took the ring, and he just wants it back on his finger.

"I was angry, I felt violated," Kramer said. "I was angry for quite a while about it, and now I would just like to have it back. It's kind of like one of the kids been gone a long time and needs to come home now."

[Eric]

Posted April 22, 2006

Kramer's lost bowl ring found
By Chris Havel
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

To Jerry Kramer, his original Super Bowl I ring isn't everything. It's the only thing, or at least, the only one of its kind.


"Its greatest significance is that it was Super Bowl I," he said Friday in a telephone interview from his home in Boise, Idaho. "You can get excited about Super Bowl XV or Super Bowl XXV or Super Bowl XXXV, but there's nothing like the first one."


That is why Kramer was deeply saddened when the ring was stolen more than 20 years ago, and why he was outraged Friday to discover it up for sale on a Chicago-based auction house's Web site.


It's also why he was thrilled when Mastro Auctions, which opened the bidding at $5,000, promptly removed the ring from its site after Kramer called the company.


"It's a fantastic piece," said Doug Allen, president of Mastro Auctions. "The bidding was at $20,000 when we withdrew it, and I'm sure it would've gotten crazy ... but we wouldn't let it get to that point."


Mastro Auctions, the largest sports auction house in the world, according to Allen, is going to work through the consigner to authenticate the ring and try to return it to Kramer.


"It's a Super Bowl ring from one of the most prominent teams ever that was owned by a famous personality who also is a great guy," Allen said. "I wish I could've sold it, but given the fact that (Kramer) claims he never sold it and that it was stolen, we're going to take the high road."


Kramer, 70, was delighted at the possibility of having his long lost ring returned.


"It's nice to know there are good people out there willing to do the right thing," he said.


Kramer, who starred at right guard for coach Vince Lombardi's championship teams of the 1960s, first learned the ring was up for auction when he received a Friday morning phone call from John Nitschke. The son of Ray Nitschke, the Packers' Hall of Fame middle linebacker, refused to believe his deceased father's former teammate and friend would sell his Super Bowl I ring.


"He said, 'I see your Super Bowl I ring is up for sale. My dad would never have sold his ring, and I'm pretty damn sure you'd never sell yours, either,'" Kramer said. "Hearing from John was one of the few nice things that happened as a result of this. Now that there's a chance I may get it back, I can't tell you how thrilled I am."


Kramer lost the ring while he was aboard a flight from Chicago to New York in the early 1980s. He had lost hope he would recover the ring until last week.


That's when a man telephoned from Canada and told Kramer he might know the whereabouts of his Super Bowl I ring. The man declined to give his name, but he and Kramer compared notes and it quickly became apparent the ring was authentic.


"I've been waiting for this thing to resurface for a long time, and I knew it would, but I expected it to happen a lot sooner," he said. "I replaced the ring through Jostens, but it's still not the original. The man that called last week said I might be hearing about the ring in the near future, and then I got the call from John (Nitschke) this morning."


Kramer said Mastro's decision to stop the bidding can only improve the image of the sports memorabilia field.


Allen agrees.


"These real sports stories about bad autographs hurt, and we've always held ourselves to higher standards than some other (collectors) might. I'm not going to sell the ring when (Kramer) says it's lost or stolen. We'll put it in our safe and when we can authenticate it he'll get it back," he said.


Kramer said he would like to hear from anyone that has information regarding the ring. They can contact him at www.jerrykramer.com.


"I'd love to trace the ring from the day it was stolen until today," he said. "That would be a terrific tale."