TEMPE, Ariz. — Todd Graham was the proud coach of ASU's football team for five years. Graham accumulated 17 championship rings over decades of coaching before they were all stolen from a friend's vehicle in a north Tempe neighborhood Tuesday night.
Graham's wife Penni is now making an emotional plea to the person who took them.
"Just, we'd like them back," she said.
Graham, now the head coach at the University of Hawaii, has been living there with Penni and a friend in the Valley was holding onto some things to assist in the move. The priceless rings were among them.
“I felt very much like I had been slugged in the gut," Penni said.
According to Tempe police, the friend's vehicle was broken into near 13th and Roosevelt Streets, just minutes from the stadium Todd once called home.
“He was just in shock. Something we never thought could happen," Penni said. “Each of those rings is attached to special people in our lives. Special times in our lives. And some really long hours and hard work.”
The thief stole everything in the vehicle including the backpack containing the rings. The Grahams are hoping that their pleas for a return will be met. They said that the monetary value is nothing compared to the memories they represent for the coach.
“We would be immensely appreciative to have them in our home again," Penni said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Tempe police.