A Pennsylvania man said he was shocked when a high school student showed up at his front door and presented him with a ring he lost nearly 40 years ago.

ADVERTISEMENT

William Delaney, 57, of Point Breeze said he lost his class ring during a snowball fight on Tilbury Street less than a week after obtaining it from Allderdice High School in 1972, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Monday.

Delaney said he had long since given up hope of finding the ring when Max Zeck, 15, and his father, Mike Yoffee, showed up on his doorstep two weeks ago.

"I couldn't believe it," said Delaney, who still lives in the same house. "They put a lot of effort into this."

The father and son said Ruben Gonzales, 77, found the ring while weeding his Tilbury Street yard in the spring and he gave it to Zeck, an Allderdice High School student who mows Gonzales' lawn, to try to find the owner.

Zeck and Yoffee said they put up signs with pictures of the ring, but no one called to claim the item. They said Zeck's mother, Carol, was able to use the inscribed initials, "WDD," to track the ring to Delaney using a 1972 yearbook.

Delaney said he was grateful to the family for returning his long-lost ring.

"I'm surprised," he said. "They could have sold it."