Born March 7, 1950, in Fort Dix, New Jersey, was the 6'-2" 230 pounds full back from the early 1970's Penn State Nittany Lions, Franco Harris was born. At Penn State, he has yet to consider the feature back as he sat in the shadows of Lydell Mitchell. The Steelers didn't see it that way, though, as they used their first-round pick in the 1972 NFL Draft to select Harris. It was a great move because just a few years later, Harris ran for 158 yards against an excellent Minnesota Vikings defensive front in Super Bowl IX to earn the MVP honors of the big game! Franco enjoyed a great 13-year NFL career where he played with the Seahawks in addition to the Steelers, pounding out 12120 yards on the ground with 91 TDs and an additional 1227 yards receiving with another nine scores.
All-in-all, he produced 14622 yards of total offense and 1556 postseason yards. The biggest play for his career is his shoestring grab of a deflected pass for a score known as the "Immaculate Reception" to help define the moment when the Pittsburgh franchise turned the corner to become winners. In 1990 Franco Harris posed for his bronze bust and tried on his Gold Jacket as he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately we lost Franco unexpectedly in December 2022, just days before he was to be honored with the Steelers retiring his number 32 during a game in Pittsbirgh against the Las Vegas Raiders commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception.
