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Harris rushed for 12,120 yards in 13 NFL seasons and won four
Super Bowl rings with the Steelers but it was a single catch off
a ricocheted pass from Terry Bradshaw that turned into a
game-winning 60-yard touchdown that is the signature moment in a
Hall of Fame career.
That catch on Dec. 23, 1972 at Three Rivers Stadium helped the
Steelers to their first-ever playoff win, a 13-7 victory over
the Oakland Raiders, and has become NFL folklore known by
American gridiron fans as the Immaculate Reception.
Pittsburgh is scheduled to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
Immaculate Reception on Saturday when the Steelers host the Las
Vegas Raiders on Christmas Eve, when Harris's famous number 32
is to be retired.
"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 said in a statement.
Harris was first selection for the Steelers in the 1972 draft
and quickly established himself as one of the NFL's best running
backs, rushing for more than 1,000 yards to claim rookie of the
year honours.
He rushed for 1,000 yards or more eight times and more than 100
yards in 47 games, earning nine selections to the Pro Bowl.
"It is difficult to find the appropriate words to describe
Franco Harris impact on the Pittsburgh Steelers, his team mates,
the city of Pittsburgh and Steelers Nations," said Steelers
president Art Rooney II.
"From his rookie season, that included the Immaculate Reception,
through the next 50 years, Franco brought joy to people on and
off the field."
STEELERS DYNASTY
Harris was a cornerstone of the Steelers dynasty that won four
Super Bowls in the 1970s.
In Super Bowl IX, when the Steelers won their first-ever league
title with a 16-6 victory over Minnesota, Harris rushed for 158
yards, compared to 17 yards for the entire Viking team.
He was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
"He meant so much to Steelers fans as the Hall of Fame running
back who helped form the nucleus of the team's dynasty of the
'70s, but he was much more," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said
in a statement.
"Franco changed the way people thought of the Steelers, of
Pittsburgh, and of the NFL."
Harris's death triggered an outpouring of grief across the
worlds of sport, entertainment and politics.
President Joe Biden recalled that after the car crash 50 years
ago that killed his first wife and infant daughter and badly
injured his two young sons, Harris and other Steelers players
came to the hospital.
"Say the name Franco Harris and most everyone talks about the
catch, the Super Bowls, and the glory he brought to the game of
football," Biden said. "But in the fifty years we bonded as
friends, I always talked about his character and compassion.
"I know there will also be countless families like mine that
will remember him for all that he did to lift our spirits when
we needed it – in the most quiet, personal and American of
ways."
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Ed Osmond)
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