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Homeless Man Spent Months Searching For Owner Of Lost Ring

LEX 18

A homeless man in Lexington who found a Georgetown College football ring has returned it to its owner after a months-long search.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Robert "Shorty" Eads found the ring while working for a program that is meant to stop panhandling by putting the jobless to work collecting trash.

Eads said he knew the "final four" ring was more than just jewelry — someone had worked hard for it.

"I know it meant something to somebody," Eads told the paper. "If it was the last thing that I did, I was going to get that ring back to its owner."

Eads called the Georgetown athletics department and searched the Internet without success. Finally, Eads asked his supervisor for help.

Jarrod Jones is a retired Lexington Police officer who enlisted friends to join the hunt. They tracked down the owner's father, Don Schmitz, in Union.

His son Adam Schmitz lives in Denver but had attended the wedding of a former football teammate in Lexington over the summer. That's when he lost the ring.

Don Schmitz drove to Lexington to get the ring back from Jones last month and said he would return it to his son when he came home for Christmas.

Schmitz gave Jones $100 to give to Eads, saying he would have given more but he is temporarily out of work with a shoulder problem.

"I can't thank him enough," Schmitz said of Eads. "It was a Christmas gift to all of us. There are still good people out there."

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