The upcoming year will mark the 10th anniversary of the Balfour ring company's offering of a single official class ring for Auburn. Balfour has produced school jewelry since 1913, and since the late 1930s has also offered yearbooks, graduation announcements and letter jackets.
Rusty Parker, a local employee of the company, explained the history of the company's Auburn ring. "As an Auburn University graduate (1978), I immediately went to work with Balfour upon graduation and was excited to know that I would be working with Auburn," he said. "I sold rings during the first 25 years that offered red, green, pink stones, multiple designs etc., a real hodgepodge of rings that were not very distinctive in their design. We approached the students and administration in 2003 about returning to having one iconic symbol like my Dad's and all other Alabama Polytechnic Institute graduates that had one ring as their graduation ring."
Students, alumni and administration met to discuss the design for a new ring, and developed it over five months. The end result was a distinctive and unique design rich in symbols. "Each and every symbol on the ring has distinctive Auburn qualities. 'War Eagle' automatically comes inside everyone's ring," Parker said. "The Toomer's Corner tradition is on one side. There are four lines that wrap around the palm of the ring - each line symbolizing one facet of the Auburn Family: Students, Alumni, Faculty and Administration. There are eagles at the top on each side looking in opposite directions to symbolize looking to the past and preparing for the future, and there is a navy blue stone with an AU interlock placed on it. All of these symbols help unify and symbolize what it is to be an Auburn man or woman."
The end result is known as the "Official Ring" of the University. In the case of some universities and colleges more than one ring style is offered, but for Auburn only one male style and two female styles are offered. Balfour felt Auburn needed only one distinctive ring, a simple identifier of Auburn graduates.
"Official Rings are presented twice a year (December and April) to all qualified recipients at a special delivery ceremony," Parker said. "I have especially enjoyed seeing at the ceremony family members come watch their son or daughter have their ring presented to them by the University president and/or a representative from the Student Affairs Office. Part of establishing the Official Ring was to eliminate just anyone from wearing an Auburn ring. Previously, anyone could literally walk into Wal-Mart and get a ring - whether they had graduated from Auburn or not. The new Official Ring requires a student to have completed 75 semester hours so that the ring has the integrity of reflecting a person's accomplishment of being an Auburn graduate."
More information and history on Balfour rings can be found at Balfour.com. Its rings come from a proud history of craftsmanship and help to reinforce Auburn's equally proud history. "The ring is also designed to share this purpose of literally being anywhere in the world and instantly recognizing a fellow Auburn alum by his or her Official Ring," Parker said. "The Official Ring is the one item all graduates can have with them at all times that says 'I am an Auburn graduate and proud of it.'"
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