APB ANSWERED
Ring Returned
 You may recall the all points bulletin for Thomas L. Rollins '73 in the Summer 2006 edition of Curry Magazine. We're pleased to announce that Tom has been found and his championship ring returned! Here's Tom's story, and that of his storied ring...
There's no better feeling in the Alumni Office when we connect old friends and give alumni opportunities to have a meaningful engagement with our College. Such is the case with Thomas L. Rollins '73.
In Fall 2005, Manager of Alumni and Parent Relations Christian Gordon received a phone call from a man in Florida. The man had purchased a used Volkswagen van nine years earlier. A non smoker, he had never opened the ashtray the entire time he owned the van. As he was cleaning the van to sell it, he opened the ashtray and found a 1971 Curry College NEFC
Championship ring with the initials TLR. He contacted Curry and
mailed the ring to the Alumni Office. The search began.
 L to R: Thomas L. Rollins '73 and former football coach Tom Stephens A look through old yearbooks revealed a Thomas L. Rollins sitting front and center of the football team picture in 1973. A quick check of the database to find his contact information and the ring would be on its way home. However, this was one of the rare instances when we have no contact information — Tom was a lost alumni. Finding Tom became an interesting project in the Alumni Office. A little down time... look for Tom Rollins. Burnt out on a Friday afternoon... look for Tom Rollins. We used all the research tools at our disposal, none more important than Tom's former teammates. We ran articles with a picture of the ring in the @CURRY email newsletter and Curry Magazine. We spoke to many alumni and ran into the same response every time — "No, I haven't spoken to him in ages, when you find him give him my number." Knowing that Tom had served in the Marine Corps, we even tried joining military websites that help locate lost friends.
We gave it one more try in November of 2006. Searching through some old transcripts led to a family address in Florida from Tom's initial transfer to Curry. It was enough of a lead to find an obituary for a woman that listed two sons, Eugene and Thomas Rollins. We were able to find a phone number for Eugene in California that led us to Tom.
It turns out Tom had spent a great deal of time over the last three decades looking for the ring, not because the ring itself was special, because what it represented was special. For the men who wore it, the ring symbolized not one but two NEFC Championships, the first two to be won by Curry College, barely over a decade into its NCAA Football history. For Tom, this prized possession symbolized commitment, dedication and the success achieved by a group of players who relied on each other game in and game out.
In 1978, Tom was on leave from the Marines, visiting his parents in New Hampshire. After a Christmas Eve snowball fight with his family, he realized that his beloved
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 L to R: Manager of Alumni and Parent Relations Christian Gordon returns the lost championship ring to Thomas L. Rollins '73.
championship ring had slipped off his finger. After a hopeless search, he doubted he'd ever wear the ring again though his father was optimistic that he'd find it on the lawn in the spring after the snow melted.
"That night I had a 'vision' in my sleep," recalls Tom. "In a dream, I visualized the ring under the snow wedged in the corner where a shed attached to the farmhouse. My dream was so real, I awoke early the next morning, got dressed and immediately went out outside to validate my 'vision'. I went straight to the spot that I had pictured in my dream. The snow in the corner between the buildings was at least three feet deep. I began digging in the corner and when I reached the frozen ground, lo and behold, I found the ring! I couldn't believe it!"
Skiing nine years later in Brianhead, Utah, Tom was challenging his sons on the double black diamond trails when he caught a ski tip off of a large mogul, took a header into the powder and lost both skis. When he took his gloves off to rearrange his equipment, his ring went flying unseen into the fourteen foot snow base. A needle in a haystack would have been easier to find. After searching for an hour, Tom and his three sons headed to the base of the mountain where he filled out a small lost and found note card with the ring's description and his contact information.
"On our final night, I asked the friendly clerk behind the desk how long they kept the lost and found cards on file. I remember him saying 'forever... until the building burns down or we find the lost item'. I headed back to California convinced that I would never see the ring again."
In 1990 Tom was serving a one year tour in Okinawa, Japan when his wife called to let him know that the ring had been turned in by a man, grooming the trails of the mountain in the summer, who had noticed a glittering object.
So it was a third unlikely surprise when Tom received my phone call last fall. I was able to connect with Tom during a recent trip to LA and see the ring not in a plastic bag in his desk but finally back on Tom's finger where it belonged.
As a result, the College has benefited greatly by being able to count one of its former gridiron heroes as a supporter. Tom has already worked to foster the connection between Curry College and his old prep school in the hopes that other young student-athletes will be able to benefit from the
Curry experience as he did. He has joined a group of football alumni who
are dedicating their time and effort to increasing the level of support for
our program. Most importantly, old friends are able to reconnect and
in doing so the College community is made stronger.
There's no better feeling in the Alumni Office when we connect old friends and give alumni opportunities to have a meaningful engagement with our College.
— Christian Gordon, Manager of Alumni and Parent Relations |
