HUNTINGTON - òòò½ÊÓƵ a magician, Joey Stepp is accustomed to making people happy when he makes things disappear.
When the former Marshall University football player saw that his championship rings from his playing days from 1999 through 2003 with the Thundering Herd had disappeared from his car eight years ago, though, he wasn't smiling.
"I hate it when someone steals from me," Stepp said.
"You feel so violated."
Stepp filed a police report, checked pawn shops and asked neighbors if anyone had seen anything. Nothing panned out.
Then, Stepp received a Facebook message last week from someone who "needed to talk to me." Stepp figured it was an individual looking to book a magic show, of which Stepp has done 32 in the last month. When they hooked up via telephone Stepp said the man told him, "I have something of yours I need to return."
Stepp was uneasy.
"When he talked, he was really nervous and that made me nervous," Stepp said. "Then he explained to me that years ago he was a drug dealer and he bought everything he wanted to buy, but then he got caught and went to prison. While he was in prison, his mom stored his stuff for him and when he got out he looked through the stuff and found my ring."
The individual, whom Stepp declined to identify out of respect for him, told the former Thundering Herd center that he felt terrible and wanted to give back the ring.
"I applaud him for doing the right thing," Stepp said. "I'm not going to name him because he has a family and is doing the right thing and getting his life back together. It's a cool story. It easily could have gone the other way."
Stepp said he and the man with the ring will get together in coming days.
"I look forward to shaking his hand," Stepp said.
Stepp, 35, said he knows the individual who called isn't the person who stole the rings because he was in jail when the theft took place.
A guidance counselor at Hurricane Middle School, Stepp said he sees enough bad news in the world and is pleased to be part of a story of redemption.
"I speak to a lot of people in my magic shows," Stepp said. "I told him I'm going to use this in my motivational talks."
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