Joe Wortman was flabbergasted.
His brother Mike had called to tell him something he never, ever expected to hear.
“He said, ‘I think we may have found your high school ring.’”
That is, Joe’s 1981 class ring from Manatee High.
“I was shocked,” the 62-year-old Sarasota house painter said. “I hadn’t thought about it in 40 years. Then, bam! Out of the blue, here it is.”
The former Hurricane receiver laughed.
“I still have no idea how it made its way down here.”
That ring’s journey was a trip, indeed.
After Joe got it his junior year, the family moved to Tennessee. So he did not graduate from MHS, spent his senior year at Tullahoma High and had an injury-shortened freshman season at Tennessee’s Maryville College.
Anyway, he met a girl, gave her the MHS ring and when they broke up, he got it back.
“The funny part? She started dating someone else her parents didn’t care for. So she asked to borrow my ring to say she was going out with me and that was the last I saw of it. I ended up leaving college, couldn’t get hold of her. Figured my brother would get it for me.”
Fast forward to 2025.
MHS Principal Shannon Fleming’s mother-in-law and grandmother were having lunch when the grandmother recalled buying a vehicle and finding an MHS Class ring bearing the initials JRW and a football player’s figure.
She put the ring away.
Then Shannon (MHS Class of ’07) got it, gave it to Carolyn Keller with the MHS Alumni Association, and, thanks to the collaboration of ‘81 alums Karen Bell, Mary Lehman and Chris Shepard, the ring returned to its rightful owner.
Forty-five years later, it still fit.
“When I put it on it was surreal,” Joe said. “All the memories flooded back. It was great.”
· Congrats to Dr. Justin Fields, dentist and new partner with Klement, Jungman, Varga and Troxler.
· Props to Bayshore High junior Broc Dahlin, the state’s top-ranked wrestler at 132 pounds, on his 130th prep career victory.
· Salutes to new Manatee County Sheriff’s Deputies Katie Bly, Ethan Boyce, Joseph Castellanos, Rafael Castro, Leudy Castro, Shane Cote, Landry Dixon, Michael Janotti, Joseph Martineau, Louis Piscopo, Chandler Schmitt, Jesse Serrao and Kaitlyn Torres.
· Good luck to Southeast High senior wideout Reece Wilson who committed to Valparaiso University.
· Manatee High’s Sugar ‘Canes competition team took sixth in varsity kick and seventh in small varsity pom at the Universal Dance Association Florida State Championships. The team includes Sydney Brower, Audrey Cummings, Jordyn Falcone, Olive Imerman, Ava Macy, Sophie Potillo, Kendall Steffensen, Maci Steffensen, Faith Wright and Emma Wyar.
· And also at UDA states, Braden River High’s Black Pearls took third in pom and ninth in hip hop. The squad includes Izzy Arteaga, Tessa Buchek, Laylah Camus, Amelia Cooper, Courtney Cripe, Claire Depasquale, Mya Gorris, Leah Harkness, Angel Keelen, Viktoria Kis, Jenna Lee, Ava Losada, Kaia Mulock, Millie Snead, Addison Weimann, Lily Winterbottom and Kennedy Zaller.
· And props to River’s drumline, inaugural Battle of the Beats champs in the high school category at the Manatee County Fair. They are Bryce Caffrey, Logan Cole, Emma Daley, Natasha Damaso, Alexis Huffstutler, Jonathan Martine, Cein Mejia, Jared Rodriguez, Rylee Pascoe, Millie Secord, Trace Secord, Anuj Tripathi and Elizabeth Vogt.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN’S PEOPLE: After 45 years, a missing Manatee class ring returns home
Reporting by Vin Mannix, Special to the Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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