RIP Franco Harris

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[cliftonparksufan]

72 years old. Just as the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception was to be celebrated as was his jersey retirement. A key cog to some great teams.

Steelers Hall of Fame RB Franco Harris dies at 72

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.

www.espn.com

 

[Arangeman]

He was live on Mad Dog yesterday discussing Immaculate Reception. Great interview. Sounded fine.

 

[Bill Orange]

The first game I ever attended at Archbold was in 1969, when Franco and Lydell Mitchell beat us 15-14. A lot of future NFL stars played in that game.

 

[br801]

Tremendous player and a main cog on those great Steelers teams. His rookie season was one for the ages. RIP, Franco.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

I was fortunate enough to be starting out as a sportswriter at the Akron Beacon Journal in the early ‘70s when the Steelers dynasty was starting. I covered Browns-Steelers games and was so impressed by what a good, kind person Franco was — aside from being a great player.

He was a sweet, upbeat, considerate man, which I’ll remember him for more than his HOF career. I shed a tear or two for Franco today.

 

[SWC75]

‘Jordan’ on Orange Nation said that Franco Harris’ “immaculate reception” 50 years ago this week should not have counted because, under the rules at the time “the ball was dead once it touched a defensive player”.

Here’s the Wikipedia article on the subject:

Immaculate Reception - Wikipedia

The key passage:

“After the play, a critical question remained: who did the football touch in the Fuqua/Tatum collision? If it bounced off Fuqua without ever touching Tatum, then Harris's reception was illegal. If the ball bounced off only Tatum, or if it bounced off both Fuqua and Tatum (in any order), then the reception was legal. The rule stated in the pertinent part that if an offensive player touches a pass first, he is the only offensive player eligible to catch the pass. "However, if a [defensive] player touches [the] pass first, or simultaneously with or subsequent to its having been touched by only one [offensive] player, then all [offensive] players become and remain eligible" to catch the pass.[13][14] (This rule was rescinded in 1978.)”

Footnote #13 reads: "Rule 7, Section 5, Article 2, Item 1". Official Rules for Professional Football. The National Football League. 1971. pp. 44–45.”

I googled that section and it doesn’t exist anymore. I settled for Rule, which declares when the ball is dead. On item said “when the pass is incomplete and referred me to this section:

2022 NFL Rulebook | NFL Football Operations

Explore the official 2022 NFL rulebook.

operations.nfl.com

The key section:

“ARTICLE 5. ELIGIBLE RECEIVERS
The following players are eligible to catch a forward pass that is thrown from behind the line of scrimmage.

Defensive players.
Offensive players who are on either end of the line, provided they either have the numbers of eligible players (1–49 and 80–89) or have legally reported to play a position on the end of the line. See 5-1-2.
Offensive players who are legally at least one yard behind the line at the snap, provided they either have the numbers of eligible players (1–49 and 80–89) or have legally reported to play a position in the backfield.
All other offensive players after the ball has been touched by any defensive player or any eligible offensive player.”

So the rule was never that hitting a defensive player caused the ball to be dead, either before or after 1978

 

[JustPherU]

‘Jordan’ on Orange Nation said that Franco Harris’ “immaculate reception” 50 years ago this week should not have counted because, under the rules at the time “the ball was dead once it touched a defensive player”.

Here’s the Wikipedia article on the subject:

Immaculate Reception - Wikipedia

The key passage:

“After the play, a critical question remained: who did the football touch in the Fuqua/Tatum collision? If it bounced off Fuqua without ever touching Tatum, then Harris's reception was illegal. If the ball bounced off only Tatum, or if it bounced off both Fuqua and Tatum (in any order), then the reception was legal. The rule stated in the pertinent part that if an offensive player touches a pass first, he is the only offensive player eligible to catch the pass. "However, if a [defensive] player touches [the] pass first, or simultaneously with or subsequent to its having been touched by only one [offensive] player, then all [offensive] players become and remain eligible" to catch the pass.[13][14] (This rule was rescinded in 1978.)”

Footnote #13 reads: "Rule 7, Section 5, Article 2, Item 1". Official Rules for Professional Football. The National Football League. 1971. pp. 44–45.”

I googled that section and it doesn’t exist anymore. I settled for Rule, which declares when the ball is dead. On item said “when the pass is incomplete and referred me to this section:

2022 NFL Rulebook | NFL Football Operations

Explore the official 2022 NFL rulebook.

operations.nfl.com

The key section:

“ARTICLE 5. ELIGIBLE RECEIVERS
The following players are eligible to catch a forward pass that is thrown from behind the line of scrimmage.

Defensive players.
Offensive players who are on either end of the line, provided they either have the numbers of eligible players (1–49 and 80–89) or have legally reported to play a position on the end of the line. See 5-1-2.
Offensive players who are legally at least one yard behind the line at the snap, provided they either have the numbers of eligible players (1–49 and 80–89) or have legally reported to play a position in the backfield.
All other offensive players after the ball has been touched by any defensive player or any eligible offensive player.”

So the rule was never that hitting a defensive player caused the ball to be dead, either before or after 1978

Rule was you couldn’t catch it if it was touched by an offensive player first, it was changed a couple years later.Still to this day it’s hard to tell if Fuqua touched it first.

 

[br801]

 

[br801]

President Biden posted this on his Facebook page today...

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[SWC75]

Rule was you couldn’t catch it if it was touched by an offensive player first, it was changed a couple years later. Still to this day it’s hard to tell if Fuqua touched it first.

Per Wikipedia, the rule was: "If it bounced off Fuqua without ever touching Tatum, then Harris's reception was illegal. If the ball bounced off only Tatum, or if it bounced off both Fuqua and Tatum (in any order), then the reception was legal."

Also: "In 2004 John Fetkovich, an emeritus professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon University, analyzed the NFL Films clip of the play. He concluded, based on the trajectory of the bounced ball and conservation of momentum, that the ball must have bounced off Tatum, who was running upfield at the time, rather than Fuqua, who was running across and down the field.[35] Fetkovich also performed experiments by throwing a football against a brick wall at a velocity greater than 60 feet per second (18 meters per second), twice the speed Fetkovich calculated that Bradshaw's pass was traveling when it reached Tatum and Fuqua. Fetkovitch achieved a maximum rebound of 10 feet (3.0 meters) when the ball hit point first, and 15 feet (4.6 m) when the ball hit belly first, both less than the 24 feet (7.3 m) that the ball rebounded during the play. Timothy Gay, a physics professor, and a longtime Raiders fan,[36] cited Fetkovich's work with approval in his book The Physics of Football, and concluded that "the referees made the right call in the Immaculate Reception."

And: "Terry Bradshaw himself had made points similar to those of Fetkovich 15 years earlier, stating that he did not think that he had thrown the ball hard enough for it to bounce that far back off Fuqua and that since Fuqua was running across the field, the ball would have veered to the right if it had hit him. Bradshaw opined that the ball must have bounced off the upfield-moving Tatum – if that had happened then "Tatum's momentum carries the ball backward."

I would think it was obvious that the ball could not have bounced so far backwards unless Tatum hit it.

 

[bpo57]

The first game I ever attended at Archbold was in 1969, when Franco and Lydell Mitchell beat us 15-14. A lot of future NFL stars played in that game.

I also attended that game. Snuck into Archbold with some friends. People forget that Mitchell was actually the big star on that team more than Franco

 

[SWC75]

I also attended that game. Snuck into Archbold with some friends. People forget that Mitchell was actually the big star on that team more than Franco

We got stuff at the goal line when we tried to take a three touchdown lead just before the half and then blew it with 4th quarter fumbles and penalties.

 

[SWC75]

Part 2:

 

[SWC75]

Part 3

 

[MSOrange]

 

[Newhouser]

How was his number not retired by the Steelers already? Could be argued he was the most important piece of the first 2 Super Bowl teams.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

How was his number not retired by the Steelers already? Could be argued he was the most important piece of the first 2 Super Bowl teams.

 

[cuseattle]

Nice to see all the great comments from everyone here and elsewhere about Franco Harris. I have a special sympathy for the families who have a death happen during the holidays.