FRANCO HARRIS: Forever a Pittsburgh Legend

Before Franco Harris joined the Pittsburgh Steelers they had never made the playoffs. Then, in his rookie year of 1972, the Steelers ran off 8 straight playoff years with 4 of those years ending in a Super Bowl championship (4 in 6 years). After all of these years and four more Super Bowl seasons (two the Steelers won) it is still the greatest dynasty in the history of pro football. 

The Steelers first two Super Bowl wins came with the league primarily running the ball first and passing second which Franco thrived in. The last two Super Bowl wins of the 1970’s came in 1978 and 1979. 1978 was the year “Mel Blount Rule” came into effect. To open up the passing game, defenders were permitted to make contact with receivers only to a point of five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That only applies to the time before the ball is thrown, at which point any contact is pass interference. Previously, contact was allowed anywhere on the field. Mel Blount of the Steelers was considered the biggest offender of this play; hence it would be forever called the Mel Blount Rule. The idea was to loosen up receivers to encourage passing. 

Encourage it did. The league encouraged Terry Bradshaw to have his greatest year of all time which in my estimation, 1978 secured his entrance into Canton. And it also guaranteed entrance for Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. If you never saw these two work their magic or time has made you forget, they were simply incredible. 

And Franco? He still gained over 1,000 in seasons 1978 and 1979 (1,082 in 1978 and 1,186 in 1979). And in 1979 the Pirates and the Steelers became World Champions to give credence to the City of Champions moniker. 

Franco’s real contribution was jump starting the Steelers in a miraculous way. On December 23, 1972 I was a 13 year old kid, watching the game alone because my parents went out to do some last minute Christmas shopping (this still being a time when you could stay alone without fear and I was surrounded by family anyway.) I vividly remember playing a Strat-O-Matic baseball game between the 1970 Orioles and 1970 Reds in front of our TV and "multi-tasking" at the same time. I remember that I stopped playing to watch the last 5 minutes and being really disappointed when Kenny Stabler scrambled for about 30 years and gave the Raiders the lead with under 2 minutes to play. 

The Steelers had the ball on their own 40-yard line with 22 seconds remaining in the game and no time-outs when Bradshaw went back and threw it down the middle to John Fuqua who collided with Raiders safety Jack Tatum. The ball bounced back to Franco who caught it before it hit the ground. This is what this kid heard and saw…… 

"Last chance for the Steelers. Bradshaw trying to get away. And his pass is...broken up by Tatum. Picked off! Franco Harris has it! …….and he's over! Franco Harris grabbed the ball on the deflection! Five seconds to go! He grabbed it with five seconds to go and scored!" 
"You talk about Christmas miracles. Here's the miracle of all miracles. Watch this one now. Bradshaw is lucky to even get rid of the ball! He shoots it out. Jack Tatum deflects it right into the hands of Harris. And he sets off. And the big 230-pound rookie slipped away from Warren and scored." 
— Curt Gowdy, calling the play on NBC television 

Jack Fleming was a long time Pittsburgh Steelers play by play announcer (1965 to 1993) and announced for the West Virginia Mountaineers (football and basketball) from 1947 to 1996. Steelers fans only had the radio broadcast because the NFL people declared that a local home game could not be broadcasted live on TV. I think that was in a 70 mile radius. Living in Charleston, West Virginia, that was not a problem for me. So here’s what Steeler fans heard: 

"Hang onto your hats, here come the Steelers out of the huddle. Twenty-two seconds remaining. It's down to one big play, fourth down and 10 yards to go. Terry Bradshaw at the controls. And Bradshaw... back and looking again. Bradshaw, running out of the pocket, looking for somebody to throw to, fires it downfield, and there's a collision! And it's caught out of the air! The ball is pulled in by Franco Harris! Harris is going for a touchdown for Pittsburgh! Harris is going...
5 seconds left on the clock. Franco Harris pulled in the football, I don't even know where he came from!" 
—Jack Fleming, on the Steelers radio broadcast 

Of course I went crazy and met my mother, who was a Steelers fan, at the door proclaiming I had just saw the greatest miracle of all time (Friday, February 22, 1980 would by FAR eclipse that) and that Pittsburgh had won the game. The Steelers would lose to the undefeated Dolphins the next week but they didn't go into the night quietly. All of this was because of a match thrown on a gas fire. That match was Franco Harris.

Forever a legend and one of my forever heroes.