Buyer of stolen Bowl Ring will return it to former player

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LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - When Pearlie Graves' championship ring from the 2011 TicketCity Bowl Game went missing, he thought he would never see it again.

He was a defensive tackle for Texas Tech for two seasons, and got to play on the field when the Red Raiders were deemed the winners of that bowl game.

"Just getting the ring was just the icing on the cake," Graves said, "and you know, just winning, it was the biggest thing and especially being a part of it and being able to say. 'Hey, I touched the field and I earned this just as well as any other player'."

However, he only had that treasured ring for one year.

"I locked my keys in my car at some point in time and I thought it was a smart idea to break out one of my small windows," he said, "and I was getting that fixed at the time and it was sitting in my car, and I had it in the glove department and all of sudden…I just noticed that it was gone."

Last week Graves was shocked when a friend told him a recent picture of his ring was online.

A woman posted a picture of his ring on the Lubbock Buy, Sell or Trade Facebook page, which started a heated discussion between community members who wanted to know where the seller got this ring, and how to reunite it with its owner.

"Just being able to see it sold on the internet like that, it was shocking," Graves said. "Like, I hurt. I'm not going to lie, because man I earned that. I put my blood, sweat and tears on the football field to earn that."

Graves' mother, Carla Graves, was one of those concerned commenters. When she messaged the seller asking if she still had the ring, Carla received no response. Consequently, she posted on the Facebook page explaining the situation.

"That's when everyone started responding to me, and was like 'I remember that ring, I remember that ring'," Carla said, "and I was like 'Okay, well do you know what happened to it?' and that's when somebody said 'She sold it'."

All of Carla's online work paid off when the buyer, John Gatica, contacted her on Monday. He paid the seller about $100 for the ring, but will return it to Graves for no cost.

"He let me know that he was out of town," Carla said, "and one of his nephews told him about everything that was going on."

Mikel Gatica, John's son, is the one who currently has the ring. He said as soon as they learned of the situation, they decided to return it because it was "the right thing to do".

"It's like when you put it on, something comes over you and you just can't get rid of it," Mikel said. "It's just one of those things that you can't really explain it. If I can appreciate it this much, I can't imagine how much getting it back is going to feel."

The next step in the ring's journey is for John to take it to Texas Tech Athletics Department for them to return it to Pearlie, who lives in Oklahoma.

Pearlie plans to show it to his two sons, for inspiration to chase their dreams. He thanks Lubbock and all the Facebook users who helped get the ring back to him.

"I'll frame it this time and put it up," he said. "It ain't going anywhere this time, I promise that."