BEAUMONT — Jackie Harris was unsure how he even lost his Southland Conference championship ring.

The jewel, dated 1981, came up missing sometime in the early 1990s, to Harris’ recollection. He had recently asked about having it made.

Then, he got a phone call.

“It was just a gift from God that I would get this ring from this man, helping me out,” Harris said. “To find this ring from up under a house is a blessing.”

Francisco Gudino of Beaumont found the ring four years ago while doing foundation work on a home in the west side of the city.

“When I see the ring in my hands, I just couldn’t believe it, that I found this ring,” Gudino said. “I started to clean it up a little bit, and I just put it in my pocket … I started digging and seeking his name. ‘Just give it back to the owner,’ is what I thought when I found it.”

He and his wife Alicia presented the ring to Harris on Monday during a small ceremony at Lamar University’s Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.

“It fits, but only on one finger,” said Harris, who sported the ring on his left pinky. “But it’s good to have it fit on this one.”

Gudino was leveling a house for a person who rents homes off of Major Drive in Beaumont when he found the ring. Harris thought it was a joke when he learned it was recovered.

“I actually told my wife, and I said, ‘Baby, this man called me, and I got a card from a college man named John Lee who said he got a ring for me,’” Harris said. “I said, ‘Which ring does he have for me that was found under a house? I don’t know, it was just a gift from God.’”

Harris, a 1984 Lamar graduate, said he had no idea how he lost the ring at first. But standing in front of members of the media, Lamar track coach Trey Clark and two of his athletes, reuniting with the ring took Harris on a trip down memory lane.

Harris, a Buna native, enjoyed a decorated career on the track at Lamar, winning the 400 meters, 4×100- and 4×400-meter relays each year from 1981-84. He was a part of four straight Southland outdoor team championships during the program’s nine-year title stretch (1978-86).

He also played football as a defensive end his first two years (1980-81) and defensive back the last two years. Lamar’s football program was shut down from 1990-2009.

“When I got here in ’88 [as a freshman], the stories about Jackie were still being told about how awesome he was and what a phenomenal athlete he was,” Clark said, adding the records Harris set still stand. “For me, it’s about seeing a guy that I heard a lot of stories about who set a bar and a standard for our program.”

Gudino and Harris embraced after talking for about 5 minutes about the ring, and Harris offered to do anything the Gudinos may like in return.

“I’d like to get to know him,” Gudino said. “I’m just comfortable and happy he got his ring.”

Harris now has all of his rings back in possession, adding his daughter and wife have the others.

“It brings back a whole lot of memories of the teammates that I had and everything,” Harris said of the ring. “It’s just a blessing to have a teammate that I had running with me all these years and made it this far. To have something like this come from Lamar, it’s a great thing.”

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews