Just nine days before it was to hit the auction block at this year’s Stupor Bowl in Dixon, police are searching for a signed Chicago Bears helmet that has gone missing and is presumed to have been stolen.

Dixon police on Thursday were continuing their search for the culprit who may have stolen the Chicago Bears replica helmet signed by player Cole Kmet. The helmet, donated by the team, was considered to be the most valuable item set for auction at the Feb. 7 Dixon Public Schools Foundation’s Stupor Bowl that raises funds for the district’s schools.

The trivia contest and auction typically raise about $15,000 each year. DPS Foundation President Tom Wadsworth told Shaw Local the helmet was expected bring in a hefty bid.

“I even had one person tell me they would have bid over $1,000 for it, but now it’s gone,” Wadsworth said.

The foundation had received donations from the Bears for the auction in past years, but that hasn’t happened for a while. So getting the donation of the helmet, signed by Kmet, “was a real coup for us,” Wadsworth said.

It became even more exciting Jan. 18 when the Bears played their final game of the season.

“The final, dramatic, exciting touchdown of that game was made by Cole Kmet“ so a helmet signed by him “just automatically became a whole lot more valuable,” Wadsworth said.

The full-size replica helmet, made by Riddell, is “a commemorative piece that you’re supposed to put on the shelf to impress your friends and relatives with,” Wadsworth said.

A package shipped by FedEx and presumably containing the helmet arrived at the DPS district building at 1335 Franklin Grove Road in Dixon at 2:14 p.m. Jan. 21. It was addressed to a member of the DPS foundation and former district staff member, Wadsworth said.

When delivering it, the FedEx driver took the package around the back of the district building to the garage of the bus company, contracted by the district, which is standard procedure when the district office is closed.

However, the bus company staff didn’t recognize the name on the box and rejected the package, Wadsworth said.

“They said, ‘No, we’re not taking that.’ Well, the FedEx driver said, ‘Oh yes, you are,’” Wadsworth said. “As I’ve been told, he [the driver] threw the box to the bus company and then he left.”

After that, the bus company filed a report complaining about the behavior of the driver. FedEx then told the company that, if the package needs to be returned, to set it outside, and a driver would come pick it up, Wadsworth said.

Wadsworth believes the package sat outside, in the back of the district office building, from Wednesday, Jan. 21, until Monday, Jan. 26, when the box was opened by a DPS staff member.

It was a standard cardboard shipping box that appeared to have been opened and then taped shut. Inside was the branded helmet box, but no helmet, Wadsworth said.

“At some point between the Bears organization, FedEx and the bus company, it appears that the helmet was removed,” Wadsworth said. “It’s not as though you’ve got a porch pirate. This is really in an obscure location that is not all that readily evident to the public.”

FedEx and the Dixon police are conducting separate investigations to locate the helmet.

“I’m not optimistic,” Wadsworth said. “It’s just, how do you figure this one out?”

Dixon Deputy Police Chief Aaron Simonton said that with this type of investigation, detectives start by tracking down the route of the package to find out where it could have stopped at before arriving at its destination, accessing surveillance cameras to see who may have had their hands on it, and following up with the companies involved, which oftentimes conduct their own internal investigations.

“This is not particularly an easy thing to do. It kind of plays with a lot of phone calls to see where you can be led to narrow things down,” Simonton said.

Detectives try to find out how many hands could have been on that item and who could have potentially had access to it.

The helmet would “probably be a highly sought-after item,” Simonton said. “If the label is marked a certain way...if somebody knows what they’re looking for, that could be enticing for some people.”

This is “kind of a unique case. That’s not something you see all the time,” Simonton said.

The shift that initially took the report of the stolen item will be back at work on Friday, Jan. 30. Typically, the Dixon Police Department’s investigations division works alongside the shift that took the report to ensure they have all the details they need before they assist with any follow-up, Simonton said.

“It makes it more efficient that way,” Simonton said. To make sure they’re “not doing the same job that was maybe already done.”

“Unfortunately, it’s no guarantee as far as what’s going to happen,” Simonton said.

The foundation is asking anyone with information about the helmet to call Dixon police at 815-288-4411.

The foundation also reached out to the Bears, but has not heard back yet. Part of the reason is to see if they’d be willing to donate something else.

“We’ve actually had somebody, out of sympathy for us, offer to buy a Bears replica helmet and offer it in its place, but getting the signature of a Chicago Bear is not an easy task,” Wadsworth said. “There’s a lot of hoops to jump through to try and replace something like this. Right now, we’re basically considering it a complete loss.”

Still, the auction will go on with around 50 other donated items. The event is one of the primary ways the foundation raises money and a majority of it is donated to DPS. Since 2000, the foundation has purchased over $615,000 of classroom and educational materials for the district’s schools.

Auction items include, but aren’t limited to, four tickets to a Chicago White Sox game; eight tickets for two performances at The Dixon: Historic Theater; Wadsworth’s recently published book titled “Distinctive Dixon: Fascinating Stories of Dixon’s Rich History’; themed gift baskets such as “Kitchen Gadgets,” “Everyone Loves Pizza” and “Date Night,” among others; and a firetruck or police squad car ride to school.

The 2026 Stupor Bowl will be held at Reagan Middle School, 620 Division St. in Dixon. Attendees are encouraged to arrive at 8:30 a.m., opening ceremonies begin at 9 a.m., and the first trivia round starts at 9:15 a.m.

To participate in trivia, players must sign up as a team, complete an entry for,m and pay the fee by Feb. 3. The fee for non-profit organizations or family teams is $150, and $300 for corporate or business teams. For information about the event, contact Wadsworth at 815-285-3861 or trw@tomwadsworth.com.