Cal Sports Report

Ex-Cal Star Je'Rod Cherry Did a Great Thing With His Super Bowl Ring

ESPN provides a story about a ring from each Super Bowl, and Super Bowl XXXVI has a Cherry on top
Jake Curtis|
Super Bowl XXXVI championship ring
Super Bowl XXXVI championship ring | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Je’Rod Cherry played four seasons at Cal (1992-95) and played in three Super Bowls (2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons), winning NFL championship rings in all three while playing for the New England Patriots.  But it is what he did with one of those rings that brought him recognition this week.

ESPN.com reported an interesting ring story from a player in each of the 58 Super Bowls in an article titled “58 Super Bowl Rings, 58 Stories: Big and small, lost and found, each ring has a unique tale to tell.”

The selection for Super Bowl XXXVI, which took place in 2002 following the 2001 season, was Je’Rod Cherry.  ESPN omitted the apostrophe and the capital “R” in Cherry’s first name, but it’s the same guy who was Cal's co-captain in 1995, when he led the team in tackles as a defensive back, and was a second-round pick in the 1996 NFL draft. You will note that Cherry spells his first name "Jerod" on his Twitter page.

Here is what ESPN’s story said about Cherry and his ring:

Super Bowl XXXVI

2001: New England Patriots

Jerod Cherry, DB -- Seeing "humanity at its best," at a youth conference in 2008, the three-time Super Bowl champion decided to raffle off his prized possession to help those in need. Cherry's selfless gesture, parting with the 2.61-carat ring featuring 142 diamonds, helped generate $180,000, which went to charities such as Boston for Africa, Feed My Starving Children and Asia's Hope, a Christian organization that builds homes and provides educational opportunities, food and medical care for orphaned children in Thailand, Cambodia and India.

After nine seasons in the NFL with the Saints, Eagles and Patriots, Cherry became a radio talk-show host and NFL analyst in Cleveland, and he later became a game-day pregame radio host for Browns games.

He is still doing it, as his appearance in this November 2024 promo suggests:

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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