When Dr. Al DiStefano’s Fordham class ring slipped off his finger and dropped into Long Island Sound in May 1969, he didn’t think he’d ever see it again.
“I just watched it go down out of sight into the dark,” he said of that long-ago moment on a Port Jefferson, New York, pier just weeks before graduation.
He put his Fordham degree to work in medical school and later moved to Arlington, Texas, where he practiced oncology for more than 40 years until retiring in 2023. Still, he missed his Fordham ring.
“Every once in a while, I’d think about it and wonder what happened to it,” he said. DiStefano got his answer this summer, when a rare find and unexpected message set off a wave of news coverage.
A Miracle from Long Island Sound
An electrician named David Orlowski was combing Long Island’s Cedar Beach with a metal detector when he got a strong signal. Knee deep in sandy water, he dug more than a foot and eventually unearthed a well-preserved 1969 Fordham class ring. Inscribed was a name: Alfred R. DiStefano.
Hoping to find the ring’s rightful owner, Orlowski posted a message to the Class of 1969 Facebook group, where moderator Karen Manning asked around to see if any fellow grads were in touch with DiStefano. “Getting our rings was such a big thing at the time,” she said. “We had parties, and there was a Ring Day.”
Ray Falk stepped up to share the good news with his friend and former classmate, and soon a package was on its way from Long Island to Texas.
DiStefano has been wearing the ring since it arrived—a moment he asked the delivery person to capture on video. It’s not only a snazzy piece of jewelry but a reminder of his student days at Rose Hill.
“I enjoyed my time there,” he said. “The people were great, and it was a good education.”
The unlikelihood of the ring’s return is not lost on Distefano, who used a salty phrase to sum it up. “This is a friggin’ miracle,” he said.
Watch ABC News‘ story about DiStefano’s Fordham ring:
