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Rachel Nance has the 1966 American Football League Most Valuable Player trophy on a pedestal in her New York apartment. There is also an old Boston Patriots helmet nearby.
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They are her connection to the father she lost at age 12, and they help her keep his memory alive with pride.
She never saw her father burst through the line of scrimmage for the Patriots, his powerful legs churning, but she felt his impact in other ways - like when the family would be eating at a restaurant near their Milton home, only to be interrupted by a patron looking for Jim Nance's autograph.
No one was turned down, because her dad, a Patriots star from 1965-71, always seemed to have time for everyone.
"I have so much pride for who he is and what he did," she says. "I never got to see him play, but I lived vicariously through those types of moments."
Yet as time passed, and a new generation of Patriots stars emerged, playing with a new logo on their helmet, the scope of Nance's accomplishments seemed to dim.
Rachel, now 28 and working for a publishing company in New York, couldn't help but wonder whether things would be different if her dad were alive. She wondered if anything could be done to ensure that his achievements wouldn't be forgotten. The family had essentially lost contact with the Patriots organization, and couldn't figure out the best way to reestablish connections.
"Once you get detached, it's hard to reconnect," she says. "Him not being around, it's harder to stay in touch."
So one can imagine the emotion that swept over her last Thursday when she opened her e-mail and a friend had relayed word that her father had been voted one of three 2008 finalists for induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
There were chills, then tears. Never a day goes by when she doesn't think about her dad, but to know that others had not forgotten him, it was almost too much to handle.
"Very, very emotional," she says. "For it to just kind of come, I'm just so happy for him. I only wish he was here to experience it."
After his standout career as a football player and wrestler at Syracuse, Nance played in 94 games over seven seasons for the Patriots, and his 45 rushing touchdowns remain a franchise record. He churned out 5,323 rushing yards, which ranks second in team history, and authored one of the great individual accomplishments of the AFL era when he totaled 1,458 rushing yards in 1966, earning him MVP honors. No AFL back ever surpassed the mark.
"That season might be the single greatest season of any Patriots running back I've ever seen," said longtime radio play-by-play man Gil Santos, who was a color commentator in 1966 alongside Bob Starr. "He was just unstoppable, a powerhouse fullback who would blast through the line of scrimmage - just so explosive, and at the same time, the nicest guy."