About a dozen of Jake Scott’s friends boarded the “Mele Kai,” his beloved fishing boat, one last time at Hanalei Pier on Jan. 8. They took with them a wreath, a plastic inflatable Budweiser can and Scott’s ashes and spread them on Hanalei Bay. A good time was had by all.
“That was his wishes,” said Randy Fabal, Scott’s brother-in-law.
Scott, one of the greatest players in Georgia football history and an NFL star with the Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins in the 1970s, died in November after an accident at the home of an Atlanta friend. He was 75.
Scott had one other posthumous wish. He directed his brother-in-law and sister, Rita Scott Fabal, to “sell all my stuff.”
That “stuff” -- things like Super Bowl rings, MVP watches and game balls and jerseys from Miami and UGA -- is commanding big money in an online auction by Heritage Auction (HA.com) that will conclude this weekend.
Most of the buzz is over Scott’s two Super Bowl rings from the Miami Dolphins and the gold watch he received for being named the Super Bowl MVP in their undefeated season of 1972. Bids on his Super Bowl ring from that season had reached $49,000 by Friday afternoon. Bids on the rings and watches will close Saturday night.
But other memorabilia will remain on auction through Sunday, Ivy said. So, collectors also will have a chance to bid on Scott’s Rookie of the Year trophy; his 1968 All-American football signed by every first-team selection, including Georgia teammate Bill Stanfill; his 1968 SEC Championship ring; his 1968 letterman’s jacket; game jerseys, helmets and every kind of trophy and plaque one can imagine.
“It’s a great collection,” said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas. “Jake had a great career, obviously, at the University of Georgia and then as an All-Pro with the Miami Dolphins. What’s interesting about Jake is he was a bit elusive. He didn’t come around a lot, and the memorabilia didn’t mean a lot to him. But it’s great that he held onto it for collectors.”
Credit: Contributed by Jake Scott family
Credit: Contributed by Jake Scott family
Hanalei, a small fishing village on the northern coast of the island of Kauai in Hawaii, was where Scott lived the majority of his life after retiring from football. But the stockpile of trophies and awards Scott accumulated during a 10-year NFL career and the college career that launched it never made the trip to the South Pacific.
Most of them remained in the Atlanta home of his mother, Mary Scott, or in storage with his sister in Key West, Fla. Their mother, a Georgia State professor and UGA degree holder, died in 2016 in Atlanta.
“Most of it has just been sitting in boxes,” Randy Fabal said. “His mother had a lot of stuff displayed at her house, but that was boxed up when she went into assisted living more than 10 years ago. The important stuff, rings and watches and stuff like that, that was all kept down here in Key West in a safe deposit box.”
Ivy said there are a total of 30 “lots” available in the “Jake Scott Collection.” He expects it to bring between $200,000 and $250,000 at auction.
Scott never married and didn’t have any children. Neither money nor rings and trophies were ever important to him, his brother-in-law said.
“He always said, ‘My satisfaction is having done what I’ve done, knowing I did the best I could do,’” Fabal said. “If it won him something, great; if it didn’t that was fine, too. He did what he wanted to do.”
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