Steelers great Franco Harris dies at age 72

Two days before the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception and three days before his number is scheduled to be retired by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris died.

He was 72.

No cause of death was revealed, but family friend Curtis Aiken — the former Pitt basketball star — said Harris died in his sleep.

On Saturday, at halftime of the Steelers’ game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Harris will become the third player in franchise history to have his number retired. He’ll join Ernie Stautner and former teammate Joe Greene.

“I’m thinking that I’m having a nightmare and I want someone to wake me up so I can get over this terrible feeling,” Greene said Wednesday.

Harris authored what is considered to be the greatest play in NFL history when he caught a deflected pass inches from the ground and ran for a 60-yard touchdown with five seconds left in a playoff game against the Raiders on Dec. 23, 1972.

The catch and run, famously dubbed the Immaculate Reception, propelled the Steelers to a 13-7 win that was the first playoff victory in franchise history. It set the stage for the glory years of the 1970s when the Steelers won the Super Bowl four times in six years.

“It is difficult to find the appropriate words to describe Franco Harris’ impact on the Pittsburgh Steelers, his teammates, the City of Pittsburgh and Steelers Nation,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “From his rookie season, which included the Immaculate Reception, through the next 50 years, Franco brought joy to people on and off the field. He never stopped giving back in so many ways. He touched so many, and he was loved by so many.”

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The Steelers were planning to recognize the anniversary of the monumental catch on Friday, the day before Harris’ number will be retired during the nationally televised game against the franchise’s archrivals from the 1970s.

Harris was named MVP of Super Bowl IX and was the NFL’s third-leading rusher with 12,120 yards at the time of his retirement in 1984. He spent his first 12 seasons with the Steelers before ending his career with the Seattle Seahawks following a threatened training camp holdout, a move he and the organization later regretted.

Harris was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990.

“It’s just a shocking state of events,” said Terry Bradshaw, the Hall of Fame quarterback who threw the pass that resulted in Harris’ famous catch.

Bradshaw said his wife, Tammy, told him the news after receiving a text from Steelers Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Blount about 3 a.m.

“When I found out, I couldn’t say anything,” Bradshaw said. “When I sat down (later) and read Mel’s comments to me, I told Tammy, ‘Honey, we were just there two weeks ago. We were in L.A. We were filming (a feature) on the Immaculate Reception. We were cutting up, hooting and hollering, making fun of one another, reminiscing about plays. He gave me a jersey. I’m getting it framed.’”

Franco Harris will not only be remembered as a great player. His legacy will also be one of character and humility off of the field, as well as a dear friend of the Hall.

We are honored to have the opportunity to help tell his story and keep his legacy alive forever. #HOFForever pic.twitter.com/q5cAdn1Qnw

— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) December 21, 2022

In September, the Steelers announced they would retire Harris’ jersey at the game Saturday, tying the event into the anniversary celebration of the Immaculate Reception. The NFL scheduled the Raiders to play in Pittsburgh this weekend to coincide with the festivities.

Rooney II called it a “long overdue jersey retirement given Franco’s remarkable accomplishments to the team of the decade.”

Harris was overwhelmed by the gesture.

“It’s like giving you flowers while you’re still around to smell them,” he said.

On Tuesday, as the Steelers planned the jersey retirement ceremony, coach Mike Tomlin talked about the impact Harris had on the organization. One day later, he spoke with emotion about Harris’ death.

“This organization, this community, the football world, we lost a great one in Franco Harris,” Tomlin said. “Obviously we’re all heartbroken, but we do look forward to honoring him and his legacy this weekend, and obviously where our attention needs to be is on the preparation required to put together the type of performance that’s fitting of a great man like Franco.”

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• Franco Harris visits NA's Ingomar Middle School to celebrate 50th anniversary of Immaculate Reception
• From NFL.com: Anniversary of The Immaculate Reception

Born in New Jersey, Harris attended Penn State and shared the backfield duties with another future NFL player, Lydell Mitchell.

“For many he was a man of miracles, the man who showed up at the right time to lift a franchise and a city to greatness in one incredible play,” Sue Paterno, wife of longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno, said in a statement. “But his life was about so much more than the game, what he did with that moment was even more inspiring. He poured himself forth to a life of service to others. He was an example of integrity, selflessness and loyalty.

“… It is that life of care, loyalty and service that will forever shine in our hearts.”

Some NFL talent evaluators thought Mitchell was the better prospect. But Harris’ size — he was 6-foot-2, 230 pounds — and speed made him a first-round draft prospect. Mitchell went a round later to the Baltimore Colts.

The NFL consisted of 26 teams back then. Harris said in a 2020 speaking engagement that he would have accepted being drafted by 25 of them.

“I did not want to be drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers,” he said.

His reasoning had nothing to do with the franchise’s four decades of futility.

“Pittsburgh was like two hours from Penn State,” he said. “I wanted to go see more of the world. I wanted to go to Miami, L.A. or Dallas. I told my agent that you can call Pittsburgh and tell them not to draft me. He said, they don’t really need you. They have their running backs.”

The Steelers didn’t, though, and used the No. 13 overall pick on Harris.

“I had to put on a happy face,” Harris said, smiling.

Harris rushed for 1,055 yards as a rookie and was named the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year. Then, he helped the Steelers stun the Raiders with his last-second catch of a pass that was deflected following a collision by Steelers running back Frenchy Fuqua and Raiders safety Jack Tatum.

Contact made first by Fuqua would have made the play ineligible. The ball ricocheted to the feet of Harris, who scooped it before it hit the Three Rivers Stadium turf and ran down the sideline for the winning touchdown.

“When I left the backfield, I remember telling myself, ‘Franco, go to the ball,’ ” Harris said.

The rest, he said, was a haze.

“I try to remember, but after taking those couple of steps, I remember nothing,” Harris said. “The only thing I remember is stiff-arming (Raiders defensive back) Jimmy Warren going into the end zone. That is my first memory after leaving the backfield. I don’t remember seeing the ball. I don’t remember seeing a collision. I don’t remember anything.”

Harris was in the right place at the right time, considering his assignment on the play was to block for Bradshaw.

“I didn’t do a very good job of that,” he said.

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The image of Harris catching the Immaculate Reception above his shoe tops is iconic and was turned into a statue that is displayed at Pittsburgh International Airport.

“A ball that low, who catches it like that?” Harris said. “Who bends like that and catches it like that? You dive for it, you do whatever, but no one catches a ball that type of way.”

Before Harris’ arrival, the Steelers had appeared in one playoff game — and lost it — in the first 40 years of the franchise’s existence.

“Many have said, and I agree, that the Immaculate Reception marked the turning point of franchise history,” Rooney II said. “My grandfather once was quoted as saying, ‘Before Franco got here, we didn’t win much. Since he got here, we don’t lose.’ ”

Harris was voted to the Pro Bowl nine times in his career and surpassed 1,000 rushing yards in eight seasons, including his final one with the organization in 1983. In training camp the next year, Harris was released when his demands for a pay raise were not met. Coach Chuck Noll referred to him as “Franco who?,” and the running back spent his final season in Seattle.

When Harris retired after the 1984 season, he trailed only Jim Brown and Walter Payton in career rushing yards. He still ranks No. 15 on the NFL’s all-time list. His 354 rushing yards in four Super Bowl appearances remains a record.

“We are shocked and saddened to learn of the unexpected passing of Franco Harris,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “He meant so much to Steelers fans as the Hall of Fame running back who helped form the nucleus of the team’s dynasty in the ’70s, but he was much more. He was a gentle soul who touched so many in the Pittsburgh community and throughout the entire NFL.

“Franco changed the way people thought of the Steelers, of Pittsburgh and of the NFL. He will forever live in the hearts of Steelers fans everywhere, his teammates and the city of Pittsburgh.”

Harris is survived by his wife, Dana Dokmanovich, and son Franco “Dok” Harris.

Staff writers Paul Guggenheimer and Tim Benz contributed.