Franco Harris dies

Old Fart Tree · Dec 21, 2022

Bummer. Seemed like a nice guy.

Wasn’t there something about Jim Brown hating him for ducking out of bounds? Nm, found it. Hate seems like a strong word.

https://steelersdepot.com/2022/06/franco-harris-on-wearing-32-for-jim-brown-who-threatened-to-unretire-as-harris-approached-his-rushing-record/

mr_smith02 · Dec 21, 2022

One of my childhood heroes...this is sad. Rest in peace, Franco.

Devizier · Dec 21, 2022

Man, that sucks. The guy is still a hero around these parts, and was a big motivation for the Pittsburgh Promise scholarships (the public school system is still a mess, though).

BringBackMo · Dec 21, 2022

mauf said:
Was 72 years old.

They’re retiring his number at Acrisure Stadium this weekend in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/franco-harris-steelers-hall-of-fame-dies/

I grew up reasonably well off in a family where mom went all-out for Christmas. Most of my presents run together. But I vividly remember the Franco Harris shirt I got when I was 6, and wore regularly for a couple years — it was too big when I got it, and too small when I finally gave it up. It was my badge of Steeler fandom in an area where there weren’t many of us, even counting the fair-weather ones.

RIP.

Sad news. This is a lovely memory. Thank you for sharing it.

twibnotes · Dec 21, 2022

My dad and both grandfathers were at the immaculate reception game. Hearing about that game as a kid was one of my introductions to the experience of being a sports fan.

BigSoxFan · Dec 21, 2022

Interesting timing with the Raiders playing at Pittsburgh this week. Something screwy will totally happen now.

Mugsy's Jock · Dec 21, 2022

Odd that the Steelers had never retired his number.

Reminder of how old I am that there was a time when the Steelers were pretty cool, with Franco (and Joe Greene) leading the way. RIP.

KiltedFool · Dec 21, 2022

As a kid in south central PA, Franco was an icon. At one point when I was something like 8 years old, my older brother did a bike a thon of some sort, and if you cleared a certain threshold you got your picture taken with Franco. My brother doubled the threshold, so I had a pic of me with Franco for many years. I don't know if it still exists, I'll have to dig through some old photos.

Legendary guy, and from all reports something like Keanu/Tom Hanks level nice.

edit:
And the Steelers have always been famously reluctant to retire numbers, sucks that he passed a few days before they were going to retire his.

Deweys New Stance · Dec 21, 2022

The Chairman of the Board was a 1 Star General in Franco's Italian Army

View: https://twitter.com/Super70sSports/status/1033808224322052101?s=20&t=V9rAtM4tCrMK47xfHeHSTA

Super 70s Sports
@Super70sSports
Franco Harris knew you didn’t really have an Italian Army until Frank Sinatra enlists.

Plantiers Wart · Dec 21, 2022

Hear him interviewed by Mad Dog Russo just last evening on Sirius. Unbelievable.

joe dokes · Dec 21, 2022

Was he ill? I ask because I thought he was mentioned several times over the weekend, and that one of the announcers (I think) mentioned sitting down with him or having lunch with him the previous week. The references to him seemed to come out of nowhere. Makes me wonder if insiders knew something. Or if was just in advance of the number retirement?

I saw what was left of him play for Seattle at Foxborough in the mid 80s. A game also notable for multiple fumbles and Tony Eason leading a successful comeback from 23-0 down to wining 38-23, after replacing a banged-up Grogan, who got booed as he stumbled off the field.

He also led the unsuccessful tug-of-war team in a legendary ABC Superteams competition:
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings played in Super Bowl IX, but a few weeks later they competed in an even more memorable event - ESPN

Ferm Sheller · Dec 21, 2022

joe dokes said:
I saw what was left of him play for Seattle at Foxborough in the mid 80s. A game also notable for multiple fumbles and Tony Eason leading a successful comeback from 23-0 down to wining 38-23, after replacing a banged-up Grogan, who got booed as he stumbled off the field.

I remember that game. One of the announcers said "what a blowout" when it was 23-0 as they were heading to commercial. He didn't intend for the audience to hear it, though.

It was really odd to see Harris in a Seahawks uniform.

mr_smith02 · Dec 21, 2022

Mugsy's Jock said:
Odd that the Steelers had never retired his number.

Reminder of how old I am that there was a time when the Steelers were pretty cool, with Franco (and Joe Greene) leading the way. RIP.

For such a storied franchise, they have only retired two players' numbers prior to Harris (Ernie Stautner and Mean Joe Greene).

Scoots McBoots · Dec 21, 2022

They haven't retired Bradshaw's? Insane.

lexrageorge · Dec 21, 2022

Number retirements in football are much less common than in other sports, in part due to the positional aspects of numbers as per league rules.

RIP Franco.

MuzzyField · Dec 21, 2022

Very sad, and the timing just sucks.

So sudden and unexpected, there are photos of Franco interacting with fans on Tuesday. He was doing plenty of media leading up the anniversary and the upcoming debut of his Football Life episode.

Similar to Mauf, in 73 or 74 Santa brought 7-year-old me in Connecticut, courtesy of the JC Penney Christmas catalogue, a long sleeve home black #32 jersey along with a winter hat and the "must have" jacket with the gold pleather sleeves.

Good memories.

The Steelers don't like to retire numbers, but there are numbers they don't issue, 12, 32 (soon to be retired), 36, 52, 58, and 63. It's the opposite of the Yankees.

Scoots McBoots · Dec 21, 2022

lexrageorge said:
Number retirements in football are much less common than in other sports, in part due to the positional aspects of numbers as per league rules.

RIP Franco.

A fair point! Thanks for the reminder.

Al Zarilla · Dec 21, 2022

Mugsy's Jock said:
Odd that the Steelers had never retired his number.

Reminder of how old I am that there was a time when the Steelers were pretty cool, with Franco (and Joe Greene) leading the way. RIP.

I'm old enough to have seen the IR game on TV. You?

Besides Franco, the "receiving twins" (Swann and Stallworth), Bradshaw, Rocky Bleier, who came back from a serious Vietnam War injury to start as running back with Harris, and hall of famers all over the squad, those teams were loaded. Note that Bleier wasn't a HOFer but so many others on those teams were. Of course, the Steelers had been bad since forever until those 70s teams.

SoxinPA · Dec 21, 2022

I wasn't around yet for the actual game, but I can certainly echo the sentiment of Franco's impact on my region. I have spent my whole life living in the community directly in between Beaver Stadium and Three Rivers. Franco has basically been omnipresent, whether it's on local commercials or supporting local charities. My son's first 5k race as a child was a Special Olympics benefit in State College that ended on the field of the stadium; Franco was the official starter that day.
The play itself wove its way into my family's lore, as well. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend; they were married on the day of the game. My father spent the next 20 years of his life apologizing at most family functions for having dared to schedule the ceremony on the same day as a Steelers playoff game. OF COURSE something like one of the greatest plays in NFL history would happen, and everybody would miss it because of my dad's shortsightedness. Obviously long before TiVo, DVRs and VOD, but also before ESPN and the emergence of the highlight reel approach to sports fandom.
Very sad timing, and an unfortunate loss of (big all accounts) a really good guy.

mr_smith02 · Dec 21, 2022

SoxinPA said:
I wasn't around yet for the actual game, but I can certainly echo the sentiment of Franco's impact on my region. I have spent my whole life living in the community directly in between Beaver Stadium and Three Rivers. Franco has basically been omnipresent, whether it's on local commercials or supporting local charities. My son's first 5k race as a child was a Special Olympics benefit in State College that ended on the field of the stadium; Franco was the official starter that day.
The play itself wove its way into my family's lore, as well. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend; they were married on the day of the game. My father spent the next 20 years of his life apologizing at most family functions for having dared to schedule the ceremony on the same day as a Steelers playoff game. OF COURSE something like one of the greatest plays in NFL history would happen, and everybody would miss it because of my dad's shortsightedness. Obviously long before TiVo, DVRs and VOD, but also before ESPN and the emergence of the highlight reel approach to sports fandom.
Very sad timing, and an unfortunate loss of (big all accounts) a really good guy.

This is a great story.

Eric1984 · Dec 21, 2022

This one hurts.

My mom is from Pittsburgh and I grew up as a huge Steelers fan (the Lions were shit and every kid was a Steeler or Cowboy fan, but I actually had a reason. Interestingly it was Pittsburgh roots that made my brother a Cowboy fan -- he became one because that's where Pitt legend Tony Dorsett ended up). My first football memory is watching the 1976 AFC Championship game at my grandparents' apartment in Pittsburgh. Oakland won 24-7, mainly because both Harris and Rocky Bleier were hurt and didn't play. I remember wondering why everyone was rooting for the Steelers instead of Oakland since we were in Oakland (the Oakland section of Pittsburgh). I was 6 and had no idea there was an Oakland, Calif. Everyone got a chuckle out of that. From there I became a Steeler fan. I had the whole 70s getup -- the black jacket with the Steelers patch and the yellow fake leather sleeves, the winter hat, the mittens and the jersey (#32) -- the 70s style kids' replica with the 3/4 length sleeves, the numbers that didn't look quite like the ones on the real jerseys and no name on the back.:

I also had the Lions equivalent (Greg Landry, #11. He kind of sucked but he was the closest thing they had to a star). I wanted a "Franco's Italian Army" t-shirt but I wasn't Italian, so my mom wouldn't get me one.

I imagine I'll be very unproductive at work today as I head way down the rabbit hole...

NYCSox · Dec 21, 2022

mr_smith02 said:
One of my childhood heroes...this is sad. Rest in peace, Franco.

Likewise. Shit that hurts.

terrynever · Dec 21, 2022

Met Franco when I was sports editor of the PSU student newspaper in 1971. Was sitting in a KFC by myself in January 1972 when Franco came in and sat opposite me, smiling like a kid who knew something very good was going to happen to him that year. The NFL experts all picked him as a first-round pick because he was 6-2 and 230. Once he cleared the line of scrimmage, Frank had the moves to make defenders miss. It was fun to see Franco in the open field. He ran like a big antelope once he cleared the line of scrimmage.
Franco was always comfortable with people. Even the Black Student Union loved Franco. His parents were famously biracial. During the tense times on campus, Franco could talk to both sides. He was quiet, and he tended to mumble in interviews. He said “you know” a lot, even on campus. Paterno favored Lydell Mitchell over Franco because, as he said, paraphrasing, “You line Franco and Lydell up and tell them to run through that brick wall 10 yards away, Lydell will run straight through it. Franco will count the bricks and then try to run around the wall.” Joe hated that collegiate Franco didn’t hit the right hole. But Chuck Noll fixed that. Franco started paying attention once he got the money.
And yet, Franco was loyal to Joe until his final day. Quite a man. And he was pretty fast for a big guy.

grsharky7 · Dec 21, 2022

I grew up in Delaware before I moved to PA. My parents were from New England but I also had family from western PA, so when I was a kid I had a hodgepodge of Steelers and Patriots shirts. I still remember how excited I was when I got my Steelers 32 Hutch outfit with the plastic pads and helmet. I guy I worked with early in my career who played football at Pitt and would always tell the story about how Franco ran him over in college but fell down when his foot got stuck in his facemark. So he technically tackled Franco in a game.

Skiponzo · Dec 21, 2022

Same feelings here. Grew up in western MA (Pittsfield) but the Pats sucked in the mid-late 70s and I've been a Steeler fan my whole life. I still have my old 32 jersey from when I was a teen. Franco was not only an icon for Pittsburgh but for the entire NFL. What an ambassador and just a huge loss for us all. RIP Franco.

Clemente · Dec 21, 2022

I was at the Immaculate Reception Game.

I was in college at the time. I drove in from U of Michigan with my brother to go to that game. We had lived through such terrible Steeler teams and gone to games when the focus would be "could we hold Jim Brown to under 150 yards", that we had to be at a playoff game. I thought Three Rivers was going to crumble that day from all the foot stomping and noise of that moment. It was electric! The guy behind me spilled at least a pint of scotch all over my brother and I as Franco was running to the end zone. We could have cared less that we were drenched.

After the game we drove down to Miami for a winter break week, and then drove back to Pittsburgh for the Miami game the following Sunday. I also remember the fake punt that doomed the Steelers in that game. Oh, to be young and able to do 24 hour drives straight through.

Franco is an icon in Pittsburgh. His statue greets you at the Pittsburgh Airport. I had the chance to meet him a few times, always engaging, warm and receptive to fans and conversations.

It hasn't really sunk in yet. Love you Mr. Harris and all you gave to Pittsburgh.

mr_smith02 · Dec 21, 2022

Clemente said:
I was at the Immaculate Reception Game.

I was in college at the time. I drove in from U of Michigan with my brother to go to that game. We had lived through such terrible Steeler teams and gone to games when the focus would be "could we hold Jim Brown to under 150 yards", that we had to be at a playoff game. I thought Three Rivers was going to crumble that day from all the foot stomping and noise of that moment. It was electric! The guy behind me spilled at least a pint of scotch all over my brother and I as Franco was running to the end zone. We could have cared less that we were drenched.

After the game we drove down to Miami for a winter break week, and then drove back to Pittsburgh for the Miami game the following Sunday. I also remember the fake punt that doomed the Steelers in that game. Oh, to be young and able to do 24 hour drives straight through.

Franco is an icon in Pittsburgh. His statue greets you at the Pittsburgh Airport. I had the chance to meet him a few times, always engaging, warm and receptive to fans and conversations.

It hasn't really sunk in yet. Love you Mr. Harris and all you gave to Pittsburgh.

Another awesome story...thanks for sharing.

Otis Foster · Dec 21, 2022

I grew up in New England and began watching pro football in the 1940s, with Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli and the AAFC, pre-merger. Since we didn't have an NFL team in the region - the Boston Yanks were gone by then post merger - the networks piped the NY Giants games in on Sunday. I quickly developed a strong dislike for the Giants and for Chris Schenkel. (Going to summer camp with a bunch of NY sports fans helped, too.) Still, I continued to watch - the only show in town.

The Steelers back then were running a single wing offense and wallowed in mediocrity. One memorable day in 1952, not too long after they adopted the T formation, they caught the Giants with Kyle Rote on the injured list and behind Jim Finks, they vaporized the Giants 63-7. For once, the supremely annoying Schenkel was silenced. After that, I was a committed Steelers fan.

When the dynasty team emerged from those fabulous drafts in the 19702 - Greenwood, Blount, Bradshaw et al - I was in hog heaven. The day of the Oakland game, we were visiting my in-laws in upstate NY. At game time, I conjured up some weak excuse to retreat to the TV room. When that final sequence played out, the ball bouncing off Frenchy Fuqua to Franco, I couldn't restrain myself and let go with a string of expletives prominently featuring the letters m, f and a string of vowels. That put quite a damper on the family visit going on in the next room.

I've always had a soft spot for the Steelers since then - and Franco, a superb athlete and by all accounts, a good man. Resquiescat in pace, Franco

Edit. Requiescat, not Resquiescat. Spell check doesn’t do well with Latin.

mr_smith02 · Dec 21, 2022

Otis Foster said:
I grew up in New England and began watching pro football in the 1940s, with Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli and the AAFC, pre-merger. Since we didn't have an NFL team in the region - the Boston Yanks were gone by then post merger - the networks piped the NY Giants games in on Sunday. I quickly developed a strong dislike for the Giants and for Chris Schenkel. (Going to summer camp with a bunch of NY sports fans helped, too.) Still, I continued to watch - the only show in town.

The Steelers back then were running a single wing offense and wallowed in mediocrity. One memorable day in 1952, not too long after they adopted the T formation, they caught the Giants with Kyle Rote on the injured list and behind Jim Finks, they vaporized the Giants 63-7. For once, the supremely annoying Schenkel was silenced. After that, I was a committed Steelers fan.

When the dynasty team emerged from those fabulous drafts in the 19702 - Greenwood, Blount, Bradshaw et al - I was in hog heaven. The day of the Oakland game, we were visiting my in-laws in upstate NY. At game time, I conjured up some weak excuse to retreat to the TV room. When that final sequence played out, the ball bouncing off Frenchy Fuqua to Franco, I couldn't restrain myself and let go with a string of expletives prominently featuring the letters m, f and a string of vowels. That put quite a damper on the family visit going on in the next room.

I've always had a soft spot for the Steelers since then - and Franco, a superb athlete and by all accounts, a good man. Resquiescat in pace, Franco

Edit. Requiescat, not Resquiescat. Spell check doesn’t do well with Latin.

It is so cool how one athlete can impact so many.

mikeot · Dec 21, 2022

Never been a Steelers fan, mostly rooted again them, but admired him as a player and a person. Seems so sudden and tragic, especially given the upcoming commemorations: RIP.

Deweys New Stance · Dec 21, 2022

Some wonderful stories in this thread, thanks to everyone for sharing.

My only (distant) encounter with Franco Harris came when I was a grad student in Pittsburgh in the late '80's. A couple friends and I attended a September '87 Pirates game at Three Rivers. This was at the beginning of the 1987 NFL strike, and a group of Steeler players were standing in the parking lot in a circle listening to one man speak. As we got closer we realized that the speaker was Franco, who was recently retired and on the picket line with some of his former teammates. We watched for a bit; he was providing advice and counsel to the group. What stayed with me all these years later was that Franco had their rapt attention, and they clearly looked up to him.

ifmanis5 · Dec 23, 2022

Wait, the Steelers never retired his number and were planning to do so this weekend and then he died just before the ceremony?
Why did it take so long to retire his number?

Andy Merchant · Dec 23, 2022

Things can happen quickly, especially at that age. My dad was active and fit and died less than a month after he was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 75.

worm0082 · Dec 23, 2022

The cars behind the end zone View: https://mobile.twitter.com/Benstonium/status/1606327081511460869

Dick Drago · Dec 24, 2022

What a great guy. I hated those old Steelers teams, but have had to begrudgingly admire them in retrospect.

Franco was fast for a guy so big—I remember him going on a sweep to one side, entirely reversing, and making the edge on the other side. Most guys it’s a poor play, but Franco could pull it off.

He also has a very disarmingly gentle quality-rare in former athletes, esp football players.

grsharky7 · Dec 25, 2022

Not a Steelers fan, but man that is a touching picture. This weekend was supposed to be all about him and with it being Christmas as well, had to be crushing for the family.

Living in western PA this has been the big story all week of course (besides the weather). I was watching a documentary on the Immaculate Reception and it had the different angles and calls. As a Red Sox fan you have Curt Gowdy on the NBC call and I’m a WVU alum and Jack Fleming had the radio one. Jack was the voice of the Mountaineers as well as the Steelers. I thought it was interesting that two of my teams had the voices that called that play.

Franco Harris dies

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the maven of meat

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