i can see their reasoning behind their policy on this. awarding material items like those could possibly lead to those items being sold at auction for money rather than staying in the family.
most...most...families would keep those items forever. but there are always those members, in just about every family, whose purpose would be to only see dollar signs and try to sell the items as quickly as possible for some cash.
those 2 items should be considered personal items for each living member. as i'm sure both the ring and jacket are fitted to each inductee, where would be the personalization of a ring or jacket never worn by a Hall of Famer?
i regard those 2 things like i regard all the items i have signed by 'BAMA players/coaches. every item i have, with the exception of three, were all personally signed by that player/coach in my presence. the only 3 that weren't are:
football signed by Coach Shula (given to me by my mom for my birthday the first year Coach Shula was the head coach at 'BAMA)
football signed by former players (purchased at homewood antiques because it had signatures of former players and they weren't asking much for it)
full-size helmet signed by Coach Saban and the 2009 team (another gift from my mom for another birthday. i know where she got it, and i know the man who got the signatures; so i know they're genuine)
every other item, every single one of them, were all signed in my presence so i know they're authentic. and that makes them much more personal to me.
so not producing a ring and jacket for deceased inductees is good policy, in my opinion. i'm quite sure the families of those amazing players don't need material items to tell how special and great they were. they have the memories of being their family. and that's something much more special than any one items can be.
