Franco Harris, the Hall of Fame running back whose heads-up thinking authored "The Immaculate Reception," considered the most iconic play in NFL history, has died. He was 72. Harris' son Dok told the AP his father passed away overnight. No cause of death was given. His death comes two days before the 50th anniversary of the play that provided the jolt that helped transform the Steelers from also-rans into NFL elite; it also comes three days before Pittsburgh is scheduled to retire his No. 32 during a ceremony at halftime of its game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Harris ran for 12,120 yards and won four Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, a dynasty that began in earnest when Harris decided to keep running during a last-second heave by Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw in a playoff game against Oakland in 1972.
With Pittsburgh trailing 7-6 and facing fourth-and-10 from their own 40 yard line and 22 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Bradshaw drifted back and threw deep to running back French Fuqua. Fuqua and Oakland defensive back Jack Tatum collided, sending the ball careening back toward midfield in the direction of Harris. While nearly everyone else on the field stopped, Harris kept his legs churning, snatching the ball just inches above the Three Rivers Stadium turf near the Oakland 45 then outracing several stunned Raider defenders to give the Steelers their first playoff victory in the franchise's four-decade history. The "Immaculate Reception" was voted the greatest play in NFL history during the league's 100th anniversary season in 2020.
While the Steelers fell the next week to Miami in the AFC Championship, Pittsburgh was on its way to becoming the dominant team of the 1970s, and Harris, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound workhorse from Penn State, found himself in the center of it all. He churned for a then-record 158 yards rushing and a touchdown in Pittsburgh's 16-6 victory over Minnesota in Super Bowl IX on his way to winning the game's Most Valuable Player award. He scored at least once in three of the four Super Bowls he played in, and his 354 career yards rushing on the NFL's biggest stage remains a record nearly four decades after his retirement. Eight times he topped 1,000 yards rushing in a season, including five times while playing a 14-game schedule.
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Despite his gaudy numbers, Harris stressed he was just one cog in an extraordinary machine that redefined greatness. "You see, during that era, each player brought their own little piece with them to make that wonderful decade happen," Harris said during his Hall of Fame speech in 1990. Despite all of his success, his time in Pittsburgh ended acrimoniously when the Steelers cut him after he held out during training camp before the 1984 season. Harris signed with Seattle, running for just 170 yards in eight games before being released in midseason. He retired as the NFL's third all-time leading rusher behind Walter Payton and Jim Brown. "I don’t even think about that (anymore)," Harris said in 2006. "I’m still black and gold." (Read more on what Harris did after his retirement.)
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