After it was sold for drug money, lawyer retrieved Dexter Manley's Super Bowl ring

About a week after his death Dexter called Treece, the executor of O'Quinn's estate, to share condolences. "The first time I smiled after John's death," Treece recalled. "Dexter was so much like John -- a golden heart who would do anything for anybody."

Near the end of the conversation, Manley remembered the ring. "Dean Treece, help me out. Do you know what happened to it?" he asked.

"I said, 'Let me speak to Lydia,' " Treece said. "I had specific instructions I had to speak to her."

O'Quinn, in turned out, had put Manley's ring in a safe-deposit box years ago. He had written a note to Treece "with explicit instructions," Lydia said.

"He would only give the ring back if Dexter was now sober and healthy," said Lydia, whose husband has not had a relapse since June 16, 2006. "That was real important. He asked me that about four times."

Said Treece, "John beat his monster. He had to know Dexter was beating his own."

Afraid to send the heirloom by mail, Treece suggested Lydia reclaim the ring for Dexter during her annual trip to Las Vegas over Super Bowl weekend with friends.

On Wednesday night, pulling her rental car up to Treece's office in the rain, she swallowed hard, got out and walked in. "I'm a little nervous," Lydia said.

After visiting briefly with Treece, he gave her the ring, which she admired before she phoned her husband.

It is 18-carat solid gold, heavy and gaudy. On its crown is a diamond-encrusted football with burgundy backing. One side is engraved with the Roman numerals XVII and the words "Super Bowl." Under the words "Hail to the Redskins" are the Lombardi Trophy and the Capitol. Engraved on the other side is "MANLEY," which sits above a Redskins helmet and his No. 72.

"It's beautiful," Lydia said. "When I called Dexter and told him, 'I got it,' he got very excited and emotional."

Manley trudged through the convention center in South Florida here Thursday among other former NFL gladiators, their gnarled fingers poking through large pieces of ornate gold. The gaudy rings, they tell themselves, make up for the limps and the arthritic hips and the surgeries.

When Manley gets home to Washington next week, the ring he once pawned will be his again. It still signifies the bonding of men, including those who never played the game.

"Not a day goes by I don't think about O'Quinn," Manley said. "He was loyal. He understood. He was a brilliant man. He knew what would happen if he gave it to me then. Not to say that I don't still struggle, but I don't have temptation anymore."

Said Lydia, "It's bittersweet because John is gone. If I had courage and compassion second to none, John had courage, compassion and resources second to none. I have to believe that's what he was sent here for: to help people like Dexter.

"And you know what? He fulfilled his purpose. He kept that ring safe. He kept that ring safe until Dexter could keep himself safe."