Championship ring is the thing for real winners

For a man who’ll probably need to put an addition on his house to display all the plaques and trophies he’s collected en route to being a consensus choice as the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, it’s hard to imagine Tom Brady becoming genuinely excited by any new keepsake.

But if you saw his beaming face on the cover of Saturday’s Herald, displaying the five Super Bowl rings he now owns, you knew, as he did, that you were looking at something money can’t buy.

That became so evident in the 25 years this column made its home in sports. Rings were cherished.

“The wealthiest guy in the world can buy anything he wants, except one of these,” M.L. Carr marveled the day the Celts received their 1984 gems. “They were purchased with camaraderie, the applause of our fans, and all the hours each of us spent playing ball, back to when Larry (Bird) was 10 in French Lick.”

The following season, after the Celts were beaten in the finals by the Lakers, the late Dennis Johnson’s first waking thought was of the rings that would now be shipped to Los Angeles.

“I don’t know what my personal share will be,” he said, referring to the playoff pool, “but I’d give every cent of it right now to have that championship ring.

“If some day someone asks, ‘How good were you?,’ what will I do? Show him the money? The money will be gone. But the ring is always there and it says, ‘I played for the Celtics when they were champions of the world.’ ”

Even the stoic Bill Russell acknowledged the meaning of a ring.

He returned to the Garden with an ABC telecasting crew in 1972, three years after his retirement, so Celtics management thought it would be the perfect time to retire his number, an honor Russell stridently avoided.

So before the game the banner was hoisted in silence and during the first timeout the crowd’s attention was directed to the No. 6 hanging from the rafters. A thunderous ovation descended on Russell, who never stood.

A writer later asked, “Why would you not want to give yourself the memory of an occasion like this?”

Russell hesitated, then displayed his hands. On the left was a 1957 championship ring; on the right was a 1969 championship ring. They represented the beginning and the end of the great Celtics dynasty, and only Russell owned both rings.

“I’ve got my memories,” he said, withdrawing his hands.

Indeed, the ring says it all.