Former Vancouver Whitecaps goalie still making big saves as ring-finding hero
Chris Turner still fondly remembers the first time he helped someone recover a lost ring. He was 12 years old, and had worked at a chicken farm all summer to buy his first metal detector, a British-made device called a Metrotech.
“My dad hid some silver coins in the backyard for me to find when my elderly neighbour came out to see what I was doing,” Turner told Daily Hive. “I told her I had bought a metal detector, and she asked if it could find her engagement ring that she lost in the garden many years ago.
“After finding a couple of pennies and a handful of nails, to everyone’s surprise and especially my own, I found it. I’ll never forget the look on her face as she held it in her hand, a look of disbelief and happiness.”
The former goalie for the Canadian men’s national soccer team and the Vancouver Whitecaps is still making big saves with his company and global directory, The Ring Finders.
Courtesty of The Ring Finders
“I played for the San Jose Earthquakes, Los Angeles Aztecs, San Diego Sockers, Seattle Sounders, and ended my career back home with the Whitecaps in 1984,” Turner explained. “After a career-ending injury playing for Canada at the age of 24 against Italy in a friendly, life took a different direction.”
He was detecting on a beach in Los Angeles in the late 1980s when he helped a frantic man recover a lost ring. Then, when he moved to Cancun, Mexico, for a year, he was approached by many people who had lost their jewelry on the beach or in the water. That’s when he realized that a specialized metal detecting service was needed.
Chris Turner
With the help of an angel investor from Chicago, Turner created TheRingFinders, a worldwide directory of independent metal detecting specialists that help clients become reunited with their lost jewelry.
“The Ring Finders has 225 members in 17 countries who have recorded over 15,000 successful recoveries to date,” said Turner, who has also been involved in the film and television industry for over 30 years.
“We are not just limited to finding rings. We can find cell phones, SIM cards, car keys, machinery parts, water turn-off valves, property markers, and even buried treasure.”
Courtesy of The Ring Finders
The Vancouver resident has personally recorded over 500 recoveries all over the Lower Mainland, from Whistler to Hope and beyond. He once drove to the Rocky Mountains to help a man find his girlfriend’s three lost rings, and recovered a treasured piece of jewelry for a couple while on vacation in the Italian Riviera.
“I’m extremely proud of TheRingFinders directory and its members who have joined to help people find their cherished keepsakes,” he said. “It’s truly the best job I’ve ever had. Out of everything I’ve ever done in my life, helping people find what they thought was lost forever and seeing what a positive effect you can have on somebody is an amazing feeling.”
Courtesy of The Ring Finders
One memorable moment from Turner’s ring-finding career was helping Two and a Half Men star Jon Cryer find his lost wedding ring.
During a walk along Vancouver’s seawall while in town working on a film, Cryer said he pulled his hand out of his pocket and heard a “ping” to his left. He “walked a couple more steps” before realizing he had in fact dropped his wedding ring.
The Pretty in Pink star contacted Turner, who met him with his metal detector. After a search, he found the ring and returned it to Cryer.
“A survey was done years ago in the United States, and it said that four out of 10 married men in their lifetime will lose their ring. It worked out to be over 20 million lost rings, and that’s just men. If people knew this TheRingFinders service existed in Vancouver, I would be getting calls every single day for help. That’s why I’m working on creating a docu-series in regards to our directory and how we affect people’s lives in such a beautiful way.”
Jon Cryer after finding his wedding ring. (The Ring Finders)
Most members of The Ring Finders have adopted the footprint that Turner created of working on a reward basis, letting people pay what they can afford and what it’s worth to them. They also request that gas expenses be covered.
For Turner, one of the best rewards he had ever received for finding a lost ring was from his elderly neighbour all those years ago.
“Two days after I recovered her ring, she knocked on our door. When we opened it, there she was holding a delicious homemade apple pie. She made me one every Friday for a year to thank me. It still makes me smile thinking of it.”