There was some good for a Georgia Bulldog that came out of his team’s game at Clemson on Aug. 31. And it had nothing to do with what happened on the field.
This was a Good Samaritan kind of good, and Kevin Bailey is eternally thankful that there are still people who fit into that category.
Kevin Bailey is the father of Sterling Bailey, a sophomore for the Bulldogs who is a starter on the defensive line. Along with the other members of last season’s team, Bailey received an SEC East championship ring.
But Bailey doesn’t wear his ring. He gave it to his dad, his biggest fan, who likes to wear it to games despite having much smaller fingers.
Kevin Bailey became more than a little concerned during the game when as he cheered on the Bulldogs from his seat inside Memorial Stadium, he noticed the ring was not on his finger. This “worried him sick,” but he was able to rationalize the absence.
Perhaps he forgot to wear it, he thought. Or, as he often had done, perhaps he just gave it to his wife, Laura, for safekeeping.
It wasn’t until after the game that the Baileys really focused on locating the ring. It was upon their return to their Gainesville home that the Baileys grew deeply concerned.
The ring was not there, and an inspection of pictures taken before the game showed that Kevin had the ring on his finger when they left their house.
“Laura says, ‘Oh my God, you’re right, you did wear it!’” Kevin Bailey said. “I was just torn up.”
On Sunday morning, the Baileys woke and drove to Clemson. They traced their every step, best they could recall, and they scoured the area where they had tailgated for several hours with family and friends before the game. Meanwhile, Clemson officials said no such ring had been turned into its lost-and-found.
At this point, a profound sense of dread poured over Kevin Bailey. He hoped someone had run across the ring, and it would show up on eBay.
Soon realizing he wasn’t going to find his son’s prized keepsake, Bailey sat down to make some calls he didn’t want to make. One was to UGA to let them know that if the ring showed up on eBay, it wasn’t them selling it. The other call was to Sterling.
“I had to get up enough courage to call Sterling,” Bailey said. “First thing, he yells, ‘Daddy!’ I didn’t say anything else. I gave the phone to his mama. She talked him down and then I got back on the phone with him. He said, ‘OK, Daddy, I’m not mad. I still love you.’”
The next day, Laura got a call at her job in Cornelia. A woman named Stephanie Morse said she had something she thought the Baileys may want. And, no, she was not asking for a ransom.
Morse’s boyfriend, Gary Goss, found the ring inside an ice cooler at a convenience store on U.S. 123, just outside Clemson. Goss leaned in to grab a bag of ice when he noticed a shiny object wedged between two bags.
“I’m like, ‘what the heck is this?’” said Goss, a Clemson graduate who works in Athens. “I picked it up and I said, ‘oh my goodness. Wow!”
Goss immediately thought of the events that took place minutes before. He had pulled in next to a brown Surburban filled with a bunch of Georgia fans. Wearing his orange, tiger-paw T-shirt, Goss had actually fist-bumped one of the men.
“I think to myself, ‘this has got to be one of theirs,’” Goss said. “It didn’t really register what it was yet. I was just thinking this has to be somebody’s in that Suburban. So we sat there, and we waited for 15 or 20 minutes. I’m thinking certainly they’re going to be missing this pretty quick. But nobody showed up, and we had to get on to our spot (at the stadium).”
Before they left, Goss told the storekeeper what had happened and left his contact information. He expected to get a call soon.
But nobody called. And when the Baileys returned to Clemson, they did not think to stop at the convenience store.
As it turned out, that oversight proved a blessing. Kevin Bailey and Goss finally spoke on the phone and agreed to meet at Goss’ Oconee County house Thursday. The Baileys had planned to watch Sterling practice that day, and Goss said he would be home with his children, Caroline and Grayson.
The Baileys had a surprise. They brought Sterling with them.
“They were so happy to get that ring back,” said Goss, who had the ring displayed in a trophy case alongside his game ball autographed by former Clemson players C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford. “Sterling was very gracious, very humble. We talked about the game and took some pictures. It was a happy ending to something that really had them worried to death.”
Said Kevin Bailey: “We’re gonna stay in touch with them. They called after the South Carolina game and said Sterling played an awesome game.”
Sterling did. He had 10 tackles and a sack in the 41-30 win over the Gamecocks.
As for the ring, it was back on Kevin Bailey’s finger Saturday, but he’s being a lot more careful these days.
“Every time I raised my hand I made sure I had my fist balled up,” he said.
