Steelers Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris dies at 72

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Steelers Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris dies at 72​

Franco Harris, the Hall of Fame running back whose heads-up thinking authored the "Immaculate Reception," considered the most iconic play in NFL history, has died. He was 72. Harris' son, Dok, told The Associated Press his father died overnight. No cause of death was given. His death comes two days before the 50th anniversary of the play that provided the jolt that helped transform the Pittsburgh Steelers from also-rans into NFL elite and three days before the team is scheduled to retire his No. 32 during a ceremony at halftime of its game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Born in Fort Dix, New Jersey, on March 7, 1950, Harris played collegiately at Penn State, where his primary job was to open holes for backfield mate Lydell Mitchell. The Steelers, in the final stages of a rebuild led by Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll, saw enough in Harris to make him the 13th overall pick in the 1972 NFL draft.

Harris ran for 12,120 yards and won four Super Bowl rings with the Steelers in the 1970s, a dynasty that began in earnest when Harris decided to keep running during a last-second heave by Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw in a playoff game against Oakland in 1972.

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In Franco Harris, the Steelers found a hero ... and a Way​

“The Steeler Way” did not exist at 3:28 p.m. on Dec. 23, 1972. If it had, it would have been synonymous with one thing and one thing only. Losing. Lots of it. Nearly four decades worth of pratfalls and misery cloaked in anonymity. By 3:29 p.m., about the time Franco Harris raced across the goal line while the Oakland Raiders gave chase in what looked more like a dazed trot, everything had changed. They call Harris' iconic snatch, grab and sprint to the end zone in the final seconds of the 1972 divisional playoff "The Immaculate Reception," a title that hints at the divine. In Harris, Pittsburgh found a hero who walked among them. Who stuck around. Who led — by words, sure, but by actions too. Actions forever memorialized in stone, grainy film, Jack Fleming's iconic call and in the long history of a proud city that feels more like a village most Sundays during football season.


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Franco Harris Marveled at Immaculate Reception Hours Before Death​

The Steelers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer died just days before the 50th anniversary of his iconic play. Mere hours before his death, Harris had an opportunity to reflect on his fabled Immaculate Reception ahead of the play’s 50th anniversary in one of his final interviews. On arguably the most famous play in NFL history, the legendary running back hauled in a deflected pass on fourth down just before it hit the ground and ran for a game-winning, 60-yard touchdown to beat the Raiders in a AFC divisional playoff game on Dec. 23, 1972.

Harris, the four-time Super Bowl champion explained to Russo that his assignment was to stay in and block with the linemen while quarterback Terry Bradshaw looked to make a play. Bradshaw tossed a pass to halfback John “Frenchy” Fuqua, who then took a huge hit from Raiders safety Jack Tatum as the ball arrived, sending it backward. As Harris watched the play unfold, he said he made the call to go to the ball, a lesson the former Penn State star said longtime Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno “preached to us all four years.” Sixty yards later, Harris was in the end zone, which, as he explained, is a sequence that still blew his mind five decades later.“ So, I start taking some steps to the ball, and I remember nothing after that, which blows my mind, that I have no visual, no recollection of anything until I am stiff-arming (Raiders defender) Jimmy Warren, going into the end zone,” he said.Harris retired in 1984 with 12,120 rushing yards, the most in NFL history at the time, and nine Pro Bowl nods. The Steelers will retire his No. 32 jersey at Saturday’s game against the Raiders in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the famous play.

Saturday, December 24:
Las Vegas @ Pittsburgh

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