RIP Franco Harris

[Boogyman]

https://apnews.com/article/pittsburgh-steelers-nfl-college-football-sports-efc7c3e417ad04594ae32a3fbc0a693a

 

I was just explaining to my wife (she's is a very casual sports fan) about the immaculate reception this past Sunday.

[Alpha_TATEr]

damn this sucks. harris was the first non-eagle jersey i ever owned (also had a lynn swan and currently own a payton jersey). it was one of those jawns from Sears catalogue. i remember i got harris, carmichael & montgomery. 

i met him once at an eagles/steelers game here. i believe it was the '04 season, my uncle and cousin came up from austin for the game, it was the first ever in philly for my cousin. this jaguar pulls into the spot next to us in the lot across from the linc and out of it comes franco harris and a friend of his. he hung around a bit talked to us, mostly about penn state and his glory years with the steelers. then we all walked in together just small talking. 

so down to earth and nice. big loss. 

 

rip

[Guest]

RIP

[PoconoDon]

RIP Franco.

[EagleJoe8]

Strange it happened just before his Jersey was being retired this coming weekend against the Raiders. 

[Godfather]

Ronnie Hillman passed away from cancer. Only 31. F cancer

 

RIP

[EaglesIreland]

45 minutes ago, Godfather said:

Ronnie Hillman passed away from cancer. Only 31. F cancer

 

RIP

Yeah that’s very sad. I did see he’d gone into hospice care two days ago I think as yeah that was a bad sign when that happens. 31 is barely any age. I have brothers the same age and older than him. And yes F cancer. 
 

While Franco harris dying is obviously sad, the fact he was 72 makes it sad but not like a 31 year old dying sad. The sadness is that Saturday was meant to be his moment and it still will be but not for the happy reasons it was meant to be.

And I know the immaculate reception is the play that he’s known by most for, but his career stats are very impressive in an era where player safety wasn’t what it is now, nor were the field conditions 100% and he still ran for those many yards. One thing I don’t get though as how there’s a controversy over whether the ball hit jack Tatum or not. I said this is the GDT on Sunday, but it obviously did hit him.

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

11 minutes ago, EaglesIreland said:

Yeah that’s very sad. I did see he’d gone into hospice care two days ago I think as yeah that was a bad sign when that happens. 31 is barely any age. I have brothers the same age and older than him. And yes F cancer. 
 

While Franco harris dying is obviously sad, the fact he was 72 makes it sad but not like a 31 year old dying sad. The sadness is that Saturday was meant to be his moment and it still will be but not for the happy reasons it was meant to be.

And I know the immaculate reception is the play that he’s known by most for, but his career stats are very impressive in an era where player safety wasn’t what it is now, nor were the field conditions 100% and he still ran for those many yards. One thing I don’t get though as how there’s a controversy over whether the ball hit jack Tatum or not. I said this is the GDT on Sunday, but it obviously did hit him.

I think more of the controversy is whether Franco actually caught the ball before it hit the ground. There was never a clear camera angle (1972 after all) but it has always looked like a catch to me. 

[EaglesIreland]

7 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

I think more of the controversy is whether Franco actually caught the ball before it hit the ground. There was never a clear camera angle (1972 after all) but it has always looked like a catch to me. 

Didn’t NBC show a replay from high above the field looking at the play and it looked good, or at least it looks close enough. Well yesterday they said he was 6 ft 2 and he caught the ball as best you can caught it around his knees. 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

I think more of the controversy is whether Franco actually caught the ball before it hit the ground. There was never a clear camera angle (1972 after all) but it has always looked like a catch to me. 

Any Raider fan I know is worked about the ball hitting Tatum first, not whether he actually caught it.  That was a stupid rule anyways, if the ball doesn't hit the ground, shouldn't matter what players it hits in the mean time.

[EaglesIreland]

27 minutes ago, downundermike said:

Any Raider fan I know is worked about the ball hitting Tatum first, not whether he actually caught it.  That was a stupid rule anyways, if the ball doesn't hit the ground, shouldn't matter what players it hits in the mean time.

But even in the original game footage from NBC there’s a replay that shows the ball rebounding backwards off tatum. 
 

And John maddens nearly fifty year beef(and it seems to genuinely annoyed him) with the play was the aftermath and how long it took to get a call of touchdown. 

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

I was sort of a Raiders fan at the time. The Eagles were always first for me of course, but in those days they sucked and every kid in school "rooted" for other teams. Good teams. So I always rooted for the Raiders, although by that time I actually preferred the Dolphins. But I liked the Raiders a lot and hated the Steelers. 1972 was the first year that they started getting good and the hype around them was annoying. And with Franco being local, we were constantly being reminded of their successes. It was annoying.

That day my parents took my sisters and me to the Moorestown Mall to go Christmas shopping. I'm pretty sure I would have preferred staying home and watching the game on television but as a twelve year old I had no say in the matter. I had to get dragged along for the outing. So while "shopping" I stood around the TV section of a store and watched the game while the rest of the family did their own thing. I guess my father might have hung around with me. The Steelers were winning in the fourth quarter when we finally left and started driving home. I guess it was a twenty minute drive. We listened on the car radio and heard backup Kenny Stabler running in for a go ahead touchdown for the Raiders. Naturally we were very excited. When the Steelers got the ball, we heard first, second, and third down. It was precisely at the moment that the fourth down play was about to begin that we pulled into our driveway. I bolted from the car, got the front door open, and hurried to turn on the TV to see the Raiders celebrate. When the TV came on, I saw the Steelers and their fans going nuts. I missed the most famous play in history. I didn't hear it live on the radio and I didn't see it on television. 

[Mat]

2 hours ago, Godfather said:

Ronnie Hillman passed away from cancer. Only 31. F cancer

 

RIP

I just saw this. He is a year younger than me and still young enough to be playing in the league. Horrible news

[SkippyX]

11 hours ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

I think more of the controversy is whether Franco actually caught the ball before it hit the ground. There was never a clear camera angle (1972 after all) but it has always looked like a catch to me. 

 

[SkippyX]

If it was on the ground Franco would have been tackled by himself like Hank Baskett pulling in the worm burner in the NFCCG.

Seeing both angles it is more likely than not that it did not hit the ground and replay 100% does not show proof to reverse the call.