Coach's Emotional Plea After Championship Rings Stolen
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FORT WORTH (CBS11) - CBS 11 has the surveillance video of the moment police say a man begging for cash stole 6 championship rings from a beloved high school football coach who played for the 1974 Baylor Bears Conference Championship team.
Coach Roger Benefield told CBS 11 that the crime happened moments after he gave the man all the cash he had.
"These are things I was going to pass down to my family," Roger Benefield to CBS 11 from his home in Fort Worth. "You know, I can't do that now."
WATCH: BETTER SURVEILLANCE VIDEO OF SUSPECTED RING THIEF
The video from a QT Gas Station in Fort Worth shows the suspect approach other customers before walking up to Benefield. You can see the coach reach into his truck and hand something to the man before closing his driver's side door and walking into the store.
"And he just said, God bless you, God bless you, and he started walking off to my right," Benefield recalled.
Next, the video shows the man as he doubled back to the truck and lingered, before he opened the passenger door and reached inside. After a few moments the closed the door, walked off, and appears to slip something into his pocket.
When Benefield returned to his truck, the rings were gone, and he's been looking for the man ever since, driving to every gas station and pawn shop in the area.
"I would hate to say this, but I'd probably walk up to him, say god bless you and just hit him right in the middle of the face, as hard as my 360 pounds could throw it," Benefield said.
Benefield wore #73 in 1974 when Baylor won the Southwest Conference Title. There's a large picture on his family room wall of the team celebrating that day on the field. Benefield is front and center.
He has framed newspaper clippings from his years coaching Texas High School Football. He coached for Grapevine when they won state two titles in 90's. He currently coaches at Keller High School.
Benefield said the rings were his prize possessions. He wore them only on special occasions. The rings were in his truck because he wore them as a guest to the Baylor-OU game last weekend
"All these other people saying, you can replace them, you know," Benefield said. "Yeah, I can, but they're not the ones they gave me then," he continued while tears welled in his eyes. "I just want them back."
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