TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Joshua Baggs first felt relief that his wife and two young children weren’t home at the time.

He then went into a rushed panic as he realized he needed to get his dogs – and himself – to safety.

It wasn’t until later, after a fire had reduced his 100-year-old oak home to nothing but its foundation, that Baggs thought of the cherished keepsakes left inside.

A former walk-on offensive lineman for the Florida State football team, Baggs earned six championship rings during his time with Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles – including one commemorating FSU’s 1999 national title.

All six rings perished in the fire that destroyed Baggs’ home in January 2018.

Baggs, a South Georgia native who has worked on a farm with his father for the last 10 years, kept things in perspective. The rings were only rings, and losing them paled in comparison to the joy and relief Baggs had in knowing that his wife Heather, son River and daughter Virginia were all unharmed.

But realizing that his kids wouldn’t have those rings into adulthood – rings that they thought were “the coolest thing in the world” – that stung.

“The only thing we had on were the PJs that we were wearing. Everything else, we lost,” Baggs said. “Everything happened so fast. Then you’re outside and you’re starting to think about everything. And then you’re like … ‘The rings.’

“It’s something I wanted them to have.”

But a sad chapter in Baggs’ life took a happier turn last weekend.

Thanks to Baggs’ sister-in-law, a former Auburn cheerleader with Florida State ties, and then a combined effort from the FSU athletics department and the longtime ring-makers at Jostens, each of Baggs’ lost rings were faithfully reproduced:

1999 National Championship

1999 ACC Championship

2000 Sugar Bowl Championship

2000 ACC Championship

2001 Orange Bowl

2002 Gator Bowl Championship

He received them last Friday, just one hour before he joined his 1999 teammates for their 20-year reunion in Tallahassee.