Some thieves who are apparently big Michigan State Spartan fans targeted the home of well-liked former MSU football coach George Perles.
Perles led the Spartans from 1983 to 1994. He says he came home from the MSU vs. Oregon game two weeks ago to find more than a dozen championship rings missing.
“I was in the kitchen and my wife yelled, ‘We've been robbed, we've been robbed,’” Perles said.
He said they entered from the basement and stole 14 rings from different bowl games, some taken from Perles' closet drawer and others from the display case next to the front door.
“They had enough time to go through things,” says Perles’ wife, Sally.
The thieves bypassed other valuable football memorabilia and took some other jewelry. But Perles said they couldn’t get what they probably wanted most.
The Super Bowl rings he earned with the Pittsburgh Steelers are in a safety deposit box at the bank.
Perles said the stolen bowl rings all have his name on them and will likely be hard to sell. He just hopes he'll get them back.
“With me, it's all the memories, all the emotional things we went through earning those rings, and someone comes and takes them, it's kind of shocking and not very nice,” Perles said.
Meridian Township police are investigating and have alerted nearby pawn shops to look out for the stolen rings. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 517-332-6526.
