Charles “Boonie” Russell, who works for Hartselle Parks & Recreation Department, is a lucky man.

He recently had his 1974 SEC basketball championship ring returned after it went missing for almost 30 years.

Briefly, the story of his missing ring, according to a full-page feature story published in a recent edition of The Tuscaloosa News, goes like this:

Russell loaned the ring to a friend who needed money in the late1970s. The ring was pawned at a Hartselle pawnshop with the friend’s promise to buy it out of hock later and return it to its owner.

Meanwhile, the 6’ 9” Russell left the country to begin a 20-year career playing professional basketball in south and central America.

When he returned in the late 1990s, he had put the loss out of his mind.

“To be honest about it, I had just totally forgotten about it,” he was quoted as saying. “It was like it didn’t exist anymore.”

Last March, Russell traveled to Tuscaloosa to see an Alabama vs. Auburn basketball game and be honored as a member of the Tide’s 1974 SEC championship team. While chatting with his old teammates, women approached him from the stands.

She introduced herself as Martha Ann Wyatt of Coaling, AL and told him, “I have something that belongs to you. It’s you’re SEC championship ring.”

She went on to explain that she bought the ring from a close friend who saw it in the pawnshop in Hartselle and later purchased it from her at her request. She had a case made for the ring and displayed it in her home as a conversation piece for nearly 40 years.

A few weeks later, on his 61st birthday, Russell drove to Coaling to pick up the ring.

The ring bears Russell’s name, and jersey number, 32, on one side and the SEC logo and the words:” Bema Crimson Tide” on the other.

What a pleasure it was for me to cover Boonie’s basketball career as a standout player on Morgan County High School’s first state basketball championship team. He went on to win Junior College All-American honors at Alabama Christian College and played on UA teams that won back-to-back SEC titles.

Good luck could not come to a more deserving person than Boonie.