1969 New York Jets Super Bowl III Championship Ring Presented to Equipment Manager Herb Norman (Family Letter of Provenance)

1969 New York Jets Super Bowl III Championship Ring Presented to Equipment Manager Herb Norman (Family Letter of Provenance)

Led by brash quarterback Joe Namath, the American Football League’s New York Jets entered the newly named “Super Bowl” as 18-point underdogs against the National Football League’s juggernaut that was the Baltimore Colts. Despite being 18-point underdogs, Namath guaranteed the Jets would win and delivered the landmark victory for the AFL as the two leagues were in the middle of their historic merger. Namath finished Super Bowl III going 17-for-28 and came away with the game’s MVP (the only quarterback in Super Bowl history to win the MVP without throwing a touchdown pass).

All indications leading up to Super Bowl III were that the same trend of NFL domination would continue as Baltimore had led the NFL in fewest points allowed and scored the second most points on offense en route to a 13-1 regular season record. The Colts handily defeated the Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns in the NFL playoffs 24-14 and 34-0 respectively. The 1968 New York Jets finished with strong regular season, going 11-3 and had a memorable comeback against the Oakland Raiders in the AFL Championship game to advance to Super Bowl III, setting up what would be the greatest upset in Super Bowl history.

Offered here is a New York Jets Super Bowl III championship 10K gold ring that was presented to Herb Norman, who was the equipment manager for the Jets during the 1968 season. The top of the ring has a large diamond with six smaller diamonds artfully placed inside a shape of a football on a green stone. “NEW YORK JETS” and “WORLD CHAMPIONS” appears along the outer top in raised relief. The left shank has a raised banner with “NORMAN” with a raised image of the New York Jets helmet below, along with a football and “POISE” engraved. The opposite shank has the AFL “A” logo with raised banners above that read out “SUPER BOWL JETS 16 COLTS 7” with “AFL CHAMPS”, the NFL logo and banners that read “JETS 27 RAIDERS 23”. “EXECUTION” is engraved below and “H Norman 91”, along with “BALFOUR 10K” is engraved on the inner band. This ring is a size 10 ½, weighs approximately 35.75 grams and is good overall condition. This comes with a letter of provenance from James Norman, the son of the late Herb Norman, who states in his letter that this ring was gifted directly to him by his father and has been in his possession for years.