Getty A Green Bay Packer helmet on the sideline before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on November 15, 2018 in Seattle, Washington.
The son of a former Green Bay Packers legend is hoping to recover his father’s Super Bowl ring after misplacing it at an Indiana gas station last weekend.
Mike Kostelnik, whose father was Packers Hall of Fame defensive tackle Ron Kostelnik, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette he is offering a $5,000 reward for the return of his father’s Super Bowl II ring that went missing while he and his daughter were taking a road trip to Miami (Ohio) University for a college visit.
Kostelnik believes the ring was lost at a BP gas station in Greensburg, Indiana, as it was the only stop they made before noticing it was gone upon arriving at the campus about 45 minutes later. While they thoroughly searched the car and returned to the gas station to look, the ring was not found and has since been reported missing to the police.
“We don’t know what happened to the ring,” Mike Kostelnik told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “When we got to Miami, it was gone. I had taken it off my finger. When you wear that ring, it’s heavy. If your fingers are swollen in the morning, it’s a little hard to carry. So, I know I put it in the console (of the car). My daughter and I just don’t know what happened to it.”
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Kostelnik Won 5 NFL Championships
Ron Kostelnik won five NFL championships during his eight seasons with the Packers, including each of the league’s first two Super Bowls, and was often viewed as an unsung hero between defensive end Willie Davis and defensive tackle Henry Jordan. While the latter two were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for their impressive Packers careers, they likely would not have found the same success as pass rushers without Kostelnik’s sturdy presence in middle.
Kostelnik was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1989 and died of a heart attack in 1993 at age of 53. According to Scott Venci of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, he passed down his first Super Bowl ring to his daughter, Laura, while Mike received his second ring.
“It’s the ring my father wore,” Mike told the Press-Gazette. “A lot of things he went through in life after football were in that ring. It’s a ring that I wore during the time I was building my business. So, it’s all of the energy and the issues that appear that are in that ring. I felt like it gave me a lot of strength in some very trying times.”
Other Super Bowl Rings Have Gone Missing
Mike Kostelnik will have to cross his fingers and hope a good samaritan returns his father’s ring, but it wouldn’t be the first time a Super Bowl ring went missing. Numerous players — including fellow Packers great Jerry Kramer — have lost their treasured rings before eventually recovering them; though, in Kramer’s case, it took about 25 years to get back when it surfaced in an auction house.
Not all lost Super Bowl rings make it back to their owners, though.
Strangely enough, the FBI recently announced it is searching for a trio of New England Patriot Super Bowl rings that have been reported stolen. The missing rings are all said to have the unique identifier of “Gill” inscribed on them but each comes from a different Patriots championship (2001, 2003 and 2004).
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