Woman in Ohio finds linebacker’s 1992 California class ring

Associated Press

BRUNSWICK, Ohio

An Ohio woman cleaning under her couch has found the 1992 California class ring lost at an airport 18 years ago by former Oregon State linebacker Tevita Moala.

Moala, who also played for Brigham Young, left the Hawthorne High School ring by a bathroom sink at the Salt Lake City airport. WEWS-TV in Cleveland reports that his family couldn’t afford to buy him the ring, and his football coach had surprised him with it on his high school graduation day.

Gail Basey of Brunswick told the station she found the ring while cleaning under the living room couch. She and her husband, Thomas, think it had been in the couch since they bought it new nine years ago from North Carolina.

Thomas Basey used the ring’s markings and the “T.M.” initials engraved inside to track down Moala via the Internet.

“If he had not had the football career that he had in both high school and at Oregon, having won the Fiesta Bowl in 2001, we might never have found him,” he said.

Moala was on the same Beavers team as future Cincinnati Bengals Chad Ochocinco and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. They beat Notre Dame 41-9 in the bowl. His 1992 high school team finished with a 12-2 record and tied for first in its league.