Former Jet Larry Grantham nearly lost his Super Bowl ring when cancer brought him low, but thanks to some—what do you call them? Oh right—decent human beings, there's some hope left for this planet.
Grantham was an All-Pro linebacker in the early 1960s and was also a member of that miracle team that won Super Bowl III. He was also a recovering alcoholic, who in retirement had given his time and money to Freedom House, a drug treatment center in New Jersey. He had visited the center more than a dozen times to speak with addicts in treatment and helped raise over $1 million through his annual charity golf tournament.
Last week, officials at Freedom House discovered that Grantham had not been visiting much lately because he was sick and broke. Medical bills from cancer treatments and a hernia surgery had nearly bankrupted him and he was auctioning off his Super Bowl ring online to try and pay his debts. So the center's director decided to raise money for him for a change. In one week, they pulled together $18,000 in donations in order to buy the ring for him. The auction house even agreed to send the ring back without a sale, and Grantham will get to keep the money anyway.
"I never asked anybody for anything," Grantham said. "I thought (auctioning the ring) was my only way out. I'm so overwhelmed; I can't even talk about it. I can't believe people are that generous."
I almost can't believe it either, but it's just another example of an NFL team stepping up to help a former player in trouble.. Wait ... actually the league and the Jets didn't do anything to help, so this story isn't about them at all. Screw those guys.
Former New York Jet Larry Grantham 'overwhelmed' by efforts to save his Super Bowl III ring [Star-Ledger]