Florida treasure hunter finds Winnipegger’s championship ring after hurricane

WINNIPEG – A treasure-hunter who hit the beaches of Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma found something that a Winnipegger lost about four years ago — a championship football ring.

Tom Shay says after beaches in his state reopened recently, his went on the hunt with his metal detector.

His search along the coast on the Gulf of Mexico eventually brought him to Sunset Beach on Treasure Island.

That’s where he dug up a championship ring from the Oak Park Raiders football team in Winnipeg.

Shay and his girlfriend emailed Oak Park High School’s principal, who then turned to football coach Stu Nixon.

Nixon confirmed the ring had been lost by someone he knew while they’d been fooling around on the beach.

“I just read the text and took a look at the picture. As soon as I saw the picture, I knew exactly what I had. I just burst out in laughter,” Nixon told CTV Winnipeg.

“We were just chucking the skip ball around in the water, and he threw it and it flew off his finger, and he was like, ‘Oh no!’ so we started looking for it, and couldn’t find it.”

The distance between where the ring was lost, and finally found, is about one kilometre.

For anyone who wears jewelry to the beach, Shay has some advice: “Just don’t wear your jewelry in the water, or somebody like me is going to find it.”

Shay intends on sending the ring back to its rightful owner in Winnipeg.

(CTV Winnipeg)