“We have lost an incredible football player, an incredible ambassador to the Hall and, most importantly, we have lost one of the finest gentlemen anyone will ever meet,” Hall of Fame President Jim Porter mentioned within the announcement. “Franco not only impacted the game of football, but he also affected the lives of many, many people in profoundly positive ways.”
News of Harris’s dying comes two days earlier than the fiftieth anniversary of the play that helped make the Steelers one of many NFL’s elite franchises and three days earlier than the staff deliberate to retire Harris’s No. 32 throughout halftime of its sport Saturday night time towards the Las Vegas Raiders.
The significance of Harris’s most iconic second, which the NFL named its No. 1 play throughout its a hundredth season in 2019, went past the franchise, Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin mentioned Tuesday, and resonates even at this time.
“The career that it spawned in Franco — a gold jacket career,” Tomlin said, “what it did for them that season in terms of the trajectory of the season, what it’s done for this franchise — there’s many things that make it the play that it is: The most significant play in the history of the game.”
Harris rushed for 12,120 yards over his 13-year profession from 1972 to 1984, gaining all however 170 of these yards with the Steelers earlier than spending his remaining season with the Seattle Seahawks. He gained 4 Super Bowls with Pittsburgh, was a nine-time Pro Bowl choice and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990. It was a desperation move by quarterback Terry Bradshaw throughout a 1972 divisional playoff sport towards the Oakland Raiders that gave him a particular place in NFL historical past, although.
With 22 seconds remaining and the Raiders main 7-6, the Steelers confronted fourth and 10 at their 40-yard line when Bradshaw threw deep to working again Frenchy Fuqua. Fuqua collided with Oakland defensive again Jack Tatum, and the ball flew again towards Harris. He caught it simply inches earlier than it might have bounced off the turf and scored — lifting Pittsburgh to its first playoff win.
#Steelers Hall of Fame Running Back Franco Harris has handed away at age 72, could he relaxation in peace.
Harris’ soccer profession is finest remembered for the Immaculate Reception. It occurred 50-years in the past this week.pic.twitter.com/K5Zy7rPVT9
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 21, 2022
The Steelers misplaced the next week to the undefeated Miami Dolphins, however they gained their first Super Bowl within the 1974 season, when Harris was named MVP of Super Bowl IX, and adopted that with championships within the 1975, 1978 and 1979 campaigns.
“I think it’s funny that, surprisingly, I probably met 75,000 people that were there that day,” Tomlin mentioned of the sport towards the Raiders (via Triblive.com). “It’s just one of those beautiful things in the history of our game, and it’s just humbling to be in close proximity to it, to work for this organization, to understand its impact on this organization.”
That affect lasts to today. NFL Network planned to premiere an episode of its “A Football Life” sequence chronicling Harris on Friday.
“That’s the funny thing about this generation of guys,” Tomlin mentioned. “You can give them an oral history. You can tell them a story, and you can be really colorful in your delivery, all the while they’re looking at their handheld confirming it. They’re aware. They’re aware of Franco. They’re aware of the ‘Immaculate Reception.’ They’re aware of the significance of it.”
This is a growing story and will probably be up to date.