By Police1 Staff
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — Police in Boynton Beach helped a family recover a football helmet that meant the world to their deceased father.
According to a press release, football fanatic John Sparrell lost his prized possession — a helmet signed by seven players on the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins team — during a 2013 burglary. The item was a gift from John’s loving family. John passed away two months after the burglary. The Sparrells accepted they’d probably never see the helmet again.
Officer Eric Reynolds, an evidence custodian and a big football fan himself, discovered the helmet while sorting through inventory. It had been recovered by officers from the home of a man wanted in a string of burglaries shortly after it was stolen from John, but remained unclaimed for years.
The department took to television in search of the helmet’s owner. That’s when the Sparrells discovered it had been recovered.
Officers delivered the helmet Wednesday with some help from one of the players who signed it — Hall of Famer Larry Little.
John’s son, Michael, accepted the helmet from police and Little.
“I know this is worth a lot because of what went behind it with the players signing it, but I think what really means the most to me is it was a piece of my father,” Michael told the department. “Whenever I look at that from now on, I’m going to remember all the times we had together, the times that we had going to the Dolphins games.”
Watch video of the moment Michael received the helmet here.