Note: This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Nov. 17, 2001

The typical detritus from a college student's couch cushions — change, bottle caps, petrified french fries, Super Bowl rings . . .

Walter Payton's ring from Super Bowl XX, missing for nearly six years, has turned up in as unlikely a setting as imaginable — the couch of Purdue University student Phil Hong in West Lafayette, Ind.

"I was dumbfounded," said Hong, a senior from Hoffman Estates. "I have found Walter Payton's missing ring. It was so unreal to me."

Payton, the Bears' Hall of Fame running back who died of complications from liver cancer two years ago, used to refer to the ostentatious souvenir of the Bears' 46-10 victory over the New England Patriots in 1986 as his "Ring of Truth." But he inadvertently lost track of it while volunteering with the boys basketball team at Hoffman Estates High School in the spring of 1996.

While talking to the team about the importance of trust and faith and not being afraid, Payton noticed the players were in awe of his ring. So he slipped it off his finger and handed it to Nick Abruzzo, saying he was "entrusting" the valuable piece of jewelry to him. Payton told Abruzzo to return it in a few days, but he never got it back.

Speculation was that the ring had been stolen during a gathering at Abruzzo's house or simply misplaced as the impressionable young athletes passed it around. But it never turned up in a pawn shop, on eBay or any other outlet where sports collectibles are bought, sold and traded.

Payton purchased a duplicate. He was extremely disappointed over the loss of the original but remained gracious and continued to work with Hoffman Estates athletes. He died at 45 on Nov. 1, 1999.

And an eerily happy ending has come about this week.

"I'm listening to this whole thing from Phil Hong and I'm thinking, `Could this really have happened?'" Connie Payton, Walter's widow, said Friday. "Honesty did prevail. It's incredible that the ring was found, and I'm looking forward to meeting Phil."

Hong said the ring was in great condition.

"It looks like it's solid gold," he said. "It has the Chicago Bears' insignia right in the middle, it's got diamonds inside the `C' and all around it. It says `1985 World Champions' around the top. On one side it's got `34 Payton' and on the other side it has the score of the game."

Hong's dog instigated the recovery.

"I found it on Tuesday night," Hong said. "My dog was playing with one of its toys and it got stuck under the couch. I went to get the toy out of there and the ring was sitting right there. It must have fallen out of the couch."

How the couch came to be in Hong's apartment is another story.

"These couches came from a buddy of mine, Joe Abruzzo," he said. "When I came to college, I took the couches that his family was going to throw out. Joe's brother, Nick, is two years older than us. When he was a senior at Hoffman Estates, his basketball team was going to the [Elite Eight state] tournament. Walter Payton had given him his ring the day before to pass around for good luck. But they lost it in their basement after school and it was never recovered."

Not until Tuesday night.

"It started clicking in my head and I realized it was the couch from [the Abruzzos'] basement," Hong said. "The first thing I did was call up Nick Abruzzo. I said, `Was that ring ever found in your house?' He said no. I said, `Well, I've got it in my hand right now.'

"Nick told me he was so glad there finally has been closure put on that situation."

Nick Abruzzo, who played football at Indiana University, could not be reached for comment.

Hoffman Estates coach Bill Wandro was ecstatic at the news.

"It's a great weight off my shoulders," he said. "I knew the kids involved didn't do anything malicious. We supported those kids going on six years now. Just an amazing story. We tried to give everybody the benefit of the doubt . . . as a teacher and a coach, that's probably the biggest thrill about finding it.

"This is so amazing that the ring would show up like this. That couch has been moved three times. It could have been thrown out. I think maybe Walter did us a big favor."

Hong is eager to return the ring to Connie Payton and planned to drive to her home in the north suburbs to do so Saturday.

"It's not my place to hold this ring," Hong said. "Growing up in Chicago, Walter Payton was my lifelong idol. This ring is what he had worked for his whole life. After the tragedy that happened to Walter, the ring needs to be back in the family."