FORNEY, Texas -- It's a mystery that begins in one of the prettiest places in all of Texas, along the Blanco River in Wimberley.
That's where Brad Bieler of Forney was last August, killing time with his kids and his metal detector.
This gives me something to do while I'm watching them, he explained.
This time, though, the detector's beep made a different sound. Something big... something golden.
I knew it was a ring, Bieler said. It had the signature of a ring, but completely encapsulated in that coating.
When he dug it out, it was just a big gray lump. So he took it to a local jeweler.
She cleaned it up for me, Bieler said. It surprised me when I picked it up.
It was a ring all right, but not just any ring.
It was a coach's state championship ring, Bieler said. And the name of the coach was on the ring, and the name of the school was on the inside of the ring.
The date on the ring: 1976. The idea of selling it never crossed Bieler's mind.
Something this special, I would get more enjoyment than money seeing the person's reaction to it, he said with a twinkle in his eye.
With so many clues, it didn't take long to find the school on the Internet, but it s a tiny one.
St. Joseph High School in Victoria has just over 300 students. That's where Steve Tibbiletti, a mountain of a man, retired as a coaching legend.
He won two state championships in baseball, two more in football, but only one team went undefeated: The 1976 squad with Steve Williams at quarterback and Travis Schaar as middle linebacker.
He pushed you, and if you did what you were supposed to do, you got rewarded, said Schaar, who is now a veterinarian. If you didn't, he pushed you more until you got to where you were supposed to be.
Steve Williams, who is now a judge, credits Coach Tibb with helping make him the man he is today.
Other than my parents and my wife, I don't think I can attribute whatever success I've had to anybody other than Tibb, Williams said.
And Schaar knows why. He just taught us respect and good work ethics.
These days, Coach Tibb is 70 years old and retired, but he still attends every St. Joseph's home game.
Last week, they invited him on the field for a special honor.
Wrapped in a large box, Coach Tibb was presented with carving of the Holy Family. After all, Tibb is the kind of Catholic who goes to Mass every morning.
But he had no idea that gift was all part of an elaborate scheme, until he heard these words booming from the press box:
This summer, Brad Bieler of Dallas was on the Blanco River in Wimberley with his sons. He was going around with a metal detector...
At that moment, Tibb's look of confusion melted into a smile.
They found my ring! he yelled. Thats it! Where is it?
Brad Beiler of Forney then walked on the field. He waited three months for this moment, but Coach Tibb had been waiting waited three decades.
The men embraced like long lost friends.
That s it, brother! Thank you very much, the coach said.
Tibiletti recalled the moment he lost the ring. I went down that chute there and I looked up and it was just shining in the air.
Up in the stands, his wife, Delores, remembered telling him not to wear the ring in the river that day in 1977.
We never thought we'd see that ring again, she said There was lots of crying over that.
Asked who was doing the crying, she smiled and pointed: The big man.
On this night, the big man did not cry. He was just too happy.
I heard about these things happening, but didn t think it would happen to me, Coach Tibb said.
Turning to his new-found friend from Forney, he added: You made my life.
Bieler returned the smile. That's what I wanted to hear, he said.
E-mail greaves@wfaa.com
