Each year at Super Bowl time ESPN.com does a piece on the Super Bowl rings the players, coaches and team officials receive. Many people are enamored with the ring of a Super Bowl winner and surely most everyone knows of the story of Russian President Vladimir Putin putting Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl XXXIX ring in his pocket as he thought it was a gift. Kraft let Putin keep the ring and today it sits in the Kremlin library among the artifacts on display.
I’ve always found championship rings to be fascinating as they compare to nothing else and for the mere fact that athletes in the team sports always speak of “wanting a ring”. With that in mind I’ve taken some of my favorite things about the rings and bring them to you here.
Did you know that Minneapolis based Jostens has made 27 of the previous 41 rings? Companies bid for the right to make the ring and once the bid is approved the team and company exchange design ideas. It takes roughly one month to make the rings.
The NFL pays for 150 rings at $5,000 each with adjustments for the price of gold or diamonds.
The largest Super Bowl ring belongs to William Perry of the 1985 Chicago Bears, he wears a size 25. Just to give you an idea of how big that is a half dollar coin can pass through the opening.
Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw who won four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers donated all four of his rings to college alma mater, Louisiana Tech. The rings are on display at the Charles Wyly Athletic Center.
Dallas Cowboys great Bob Lilly uses his Super Bowl VI ring as his wedding ring and he used the ten diamonds from the ring he was given after the Cowboys loss to Baltimore in Super Bowl V in the setting of his wife, Ann’s wedding ring.
In all Super Bowl rings the NFL mandates that the Super Bowl logo be on one side of the ring. It is the only thing the league mandates as part of the design although it does forbid the ring company from making and selling replica’s. In many cases the actual Super Bowl rings also include the date, score, players names and numbers. The ring company can design and sell a second ring this is usually offered to season ticket holders.
Many players over time have lost or had their rings stolen but my favorite story is that of the ring that symbolizes the Miami Dolphins perfect season in 1972. Dolphins running back Mercury Morris may well be the only player to have the same ring stolen twice. In 1978 someone stole the original ring. Then in 2005, while wearing a replica ring, Morris was distracted by a conversation in the men’s room at the Key Biscayne Marriot Hotel and had the second ring swiped.
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier had some unusual occurrences with his four rings. The 11 year NFL vet, wasn’t even supposed to be able to play football after suffering a foot injury in Vietnam for which he earned a Purple Heart. To help settle a bankruptcy claim due to his divorce Bleier sold his rings to an attorney for $40,000 who leased them back to him for $1,400 a month that allowed him to regain ownership. But in 2004 he had three of the rings stolen out of a bag in a backstage dressing room where he was giving a motivational speech. The ring that was left was the one he was wearing from Super XIII, the only Super Bowl game he had scored a touchdown in.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young has three Super Bowl rings but rarely wears them because he says “they are huge and 
look terrible on such a short, stubby hand like mine”. But he goes on to say how much the rings mean to him even if he doesn’t wear them. “The Super Bowl rings signifies the ultimate success. MVP trophies and passing titles don’t mean anything in comparison to winning a Super Bowl ring.”
Denver Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe won three Super Bowl rings, two with Denver and one with Baltimore. But he gave the first ring to his brother Sterling who had to retire after seven NFL seasons due to injury. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was so touched by Sharpe giving his ring to his brother the team had another one made for him.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick keeps all of his rings in a box. “If I wear them once a year that’s a lot”. Belichick started a tradition after the first Patriots Super Bowl title of wearing all his rings on the night of ring presentation to the players and staff. And the players have followed suit wearing all the past rings when they get a new one. Hopefully they’ll be able to add another one come this Sunday.
