Alabama couple finds 1989 SEC championship ring in yard

AUBURN, Ala.- An Alabama couple found a 1989 SEC championship ring in the dirt in their backyard when they were having work done it.

Johnny and Kathryn Richardson said it was pure luck that Kathryn spotted the ring attached to a vine in the dirt, reports CBS Columbus affiliate WRBL.

The station reports the ring can be traced back to Steve Brown, an inside linebacker for Auburn from 1987 to 1990. Those teams won three straight SEC titles from 1987 to 1989. Brown feels that those teams helped put Auburn back on the map.

Johnny said he built the home where the ring was discovered with his late father. On the day the ring was found, he and his wife were at a doctor’s appointment and about to go somewhere else, but Kathryn insisted they go home. When surveying the work being done on their backyard to make it more open, she noticed something odd attached to a vine that was the same color as dirt.

WRBL reports Brown said he felt very fortunate the Richardsons found his ring, which he says was stolen along with three others from his parents house during a robbery many years ago. One of the rings was returned to him after someone tried to pawn it.

“I’ve got two little girls, 11 and 8 years old, and I think that would be an awesome thing for their dad to at least leave each of them with an SEC Championship ring,” Brown said. “I think that would be an amazing thing.”