Cambria County Sports Hall of Famer's family seeks missing Super Bowl II ring

Mike Mastovich, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·3 min read

Mar. 4—For the second time in the past year, a family of a late Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame member is searching for a precious ring that went missing.

Central Cambria High School graduate Ron Kostelnik played defensive tackle for eight seasons with the NFL's Green Bay Packers and was part of both the Super Bowl I and II championship teams.

Kostelnik, who died of a heart attack at age 53 in 1993, gave his Super Bowl rings to his children. His son Mike Kostelnik told The Green Bay Press Gazette that his father's Super Bowl II ring was lost during a recent family trip from their home in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, to Bloomington, Indiana, and Miami, Ohio.

"We don't know what happened to the ring," Mike Kostelnik told The Press Gazette. "When we got to Miami, it was gone. I had taken it off my finger. When you wear that ring, it's heavy. If your fingers are swollen in the morning, it's a little hard to carry.

"So, I know I put it in the console (of the car). My daughter and I just don't know what happened to it."

Mike Kostelnik is offering a $5,000 reward for the return of the ring.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first missing ring involving one of the region's sports icons.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman and six-time NCAA wrestling champion Carlton Haselrig's family rekindled a search for his stolen National Wrestling Hall of Fame ring soon after Haselrig died on July 22 at age 54 after a prolonged illness.

The Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, with the help of an anonymous donor, replaced the ring and even surprised Carlton's wife, Michelle Haselrig, with a necklace featuring a replica of the hall of fame band.

The Kostelnik family obviously would hope for a similar happy ending to their ring story.

Ron Kostelnik graduated from Central Cambria in 1957 and played tackle at the University of Cincinnati for two years. The Packers selected him in the second round of the 1961 NFL Draft.

The 6-foot-4, 260-pound run stopper in the Packers' 3-4 defense played a significant role on Green Bay's NFL championship teams in 1961, '62 and '65 before the Super Bowl era began.

As part of the Super Bowl 50 celebration, the NFL presented Central Cambria High School with a golden football commemorating Kostelnik's playing on the Super Bowl I and II teams. His family attended the moving event, held in conjunction with a basketball game at the Ebensburg school in 2016.

The Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame inducted Kostelnik in its second class in 1967. He also is in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

"It's the ring my father wore," Mike Kostelnik told The Press Gazette. "A lot of things he went through in life after football were in that ring. It's a ring that I wore during the times I was building my business. So, it's all of the energy and the issues that appear that are in that ring. I felt like it gave me a lot of strength in some very trying times."

Ron Kostelnik's daughter Laura inherited his Super Bowl I ring, while Mike was given the Super Bowl II ring.

The cash reward is being offered for anybody who returns the ring. Contact Chris Nerat at packerexpert@gmail.com with information on the missing ring.