Legendary Spartans, Steelers Coach Robbed of Prized Possessions

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What former Michigan State University football coach George Perles found — or didn’t find — when he returned to his Meridian Township home from East Lansing a couple of weeks ago sucked some to the joy out of the Spartans’ 31-28 win over the Oregon Ducks.

Missing was his collection of championship rings, accumulated during a tenure at Michigan State that was highlighted by two Big Ten titles and a Rose Bowl victory.

“The place had been broken into, and what they took was very unusual,” Perles, the Spartans’ head coach from 1983-1994, told WWJ/CBS Detroit. “They took my 14 different rings from different bowl games, and that’s all they touched. They didn’t take anything else except my rings and my wife’s bracelet that had all the different bowl games on it.”

The thief or thieves passed over other valuables, electronics and money, heading directly to the closet in the bedroom, where he kept the rings, and ransacked it, Perles said.

What they didn’t find, though, were rings collected during Perles’ time as the defensive line coach and, later assistant head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 1972, his first season there, the Steelers made the NFL playoffs for the second time in the franchise history, and the first time since 1947. In 1974, the Steelers won the first of six consecutive AFC Central division championships and their first Super Bowl.

During Perles’ decade at Pittsburgh, the Steelers won a then-record four Super Bowls. The famous “Steel Curtain” defense Perles developed is widely credited as one of the reasons for Pittsburgh’s comeback.

“I guess they were disappointed because my Super Bowl rings are in a safe at the bank in a safety deposit box,” Perles told the radio station. “So, that probably was a disappointment for them. I’m sure they were looking for the four Super Bowl rings along with the other ones.”

Perles, 81, said his name is inscribed on each of the rings that were taken, so they may be hard to pawn, if that’s the intent of whoever took them.

“I’m just trying to get the rings back because there’s sentimental value there,” he said.