Bucs icon Hardy Nickerson's valuable game-worn jerseys and awards vanished during a move. He's pleading for help to recover his cherished memorabilia.
One of the greatest Tampa Bay Buccaneers ever is looking for help getting his stolen memorabilia back.
Hardy Nickerson had been in the process of moving to San Juan Capistrano, California, where he had been hired as the football coach at JSerra Catholic High School.
CBS News reported Tuesday that Nickerson's moving crew stopped to spend the night at a Hampton in Santa Clara.
After the crew woke up the next morning, they saw cut locks on the back of the truck. When they entered the truck, they saw that memorabilia such as jerseys, awards, and autographed helmets belonging to Nickerson had been stolen.
"Hopefully, someone will see it if they're trying to sell it and say, 'Hey, wait a minute, I believe that was lost,' or no, 'Stolen!'" Nickerson told CBS. "If it has my name on it, please get it back to me."
Nickerson played for the Bucs from 1993 to 1999, after spending his first six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. A four-time All-Pro and five-time Pro-Bowler with the Buccaneers, Nickerson was also named to the NFL's 1990s All-Decade team. Nickerson's final game as a Buccaneer was in the NFC Championship, when Tampa fell 6-11 to the St. Louis Rams.
Nickerson missed Tampa's first Super Bowl win by three seasons, but he played a big part in changing Tampa's culture, and not just for what he did on the field.
As detailed in "Raise the Flags," an Amazon Prime documentary series documenting the first 50 seasons of Bucs football, it was Nickerson who suggested to coach Tony Dungy in 1997 that the Bucs change their uniforms, which then were "Creamsicle" orange with helmets featuring the "winking pirate" logo.
Thus, the Red and Pewter scheme and white-skull logo were born.
After 1999, Nickerson left the Buccaneers, but stayed in Florida to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He spent two seasons in Jacksonville, then another with the Green Bay Packers before retiring after the 2002 season. Nickerson returned to the Bucs in 2006, joining legendary play-by-play man Gene Deckerhoff as an analyst on the team's radio broadcasts.
Nickerson then got into coaching, first at the NFL level, when he coached the Chicago Bears' linebackers in 2007. After four seasons as a high school coach at Bishop O'Dowd in California (2010-2013), he returned to the Bucs, now led by former Tampa assistant and Bears head coach Lovie Smith, and coached their linebackers from 2014-2015. From there, he moved back to California, coaching linebackers for the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, and then joined Smith's staff at the University of Illinois, coaching the linebackers and serving as the defensive coordinator from 2017-2018.
In 2022, Nickerson returned to Bishop O'Dowd as head coach and stayed there until accepting the position at JSerra Catholic.
One of Nickerson's most valuable possessions was stolen from the truck.
In 1998, Nickerson won the Byron "Whizzer" White Award, which is now the Alan Page Community Award.
Nickerson specifically mentioned the loss of this item as one that hurt.
"Huge, huge award," he said.
Nickerson instructed anybody who might find the stolen memorabilia to reach him at Junipero Serra Catholic High School to arrange for its return.
ㅤ
Join our ROUNDTABLE community! It's free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!