March 7

On this episode of the Football's History Headlines we discuss two Steelers greats that celebrate March 7 birthdays in Swann and Franco as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

March 7, 1943 - Portland, Oregon - The two way player at guard and linebacker from the University of Washington from 1962 to 1964, Rick Redman arrived into this life. This player has an interesting story, and we cover it along with some saved content by clicking his name.

March 7, 1950 - Baltimore, Maryland - Thom Gatewood the brilliant wide receiver of the University of Notre Dame football program from 1969 to 1971 celebrated his day of birth. The NFF tells us that Gatewood was the first African-American captain in Notre Dame history, and this player set almost every receiving record in school history during an All-American career! Earning the consensus First Team All-American in 1970, Thom was the leader of receiving for Notre Dame in all three seasons of his collegiate career. Gatewood didn't establish just one but owned multiple Irish receiving records for more than 30 years! These Irish gridiron milestones included the single-season of 77 catches and  157 career receptions, single-season yardage marks with 1,123 and career yardage of 2,283 receiving and career receiving touchdowns at a solid 21 times crossing the goal line. The doors swung wide open for Thom Gatewood as he carried his collegiate legacy into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015. Thom was taken in the fifth round of the 1972 NFL draft by the New York Giants and spent two seasons in the Big Apple with the team. After that he went on to serve as director and stage manager for ABC News and ABC Sports, receiving both an Emmy and Peabody Award for his great work.

• March 7, 1950 - Fort Dix, New Jersey - The 6'-2" 230 pound full back from the early 1970's Penn State Nittany Lions, Franco Harris was born. We have so much more coverage of Franco, just a click on his name away...
• March 7, 1952 - Alcoa, Tennessee - The graceful pass catching wide out of the USC Trojans of the early 1970's Lynn Swann arrived into the world. Learn more about the Steelers graceful pass catcher by clicking on his name above.
• March 7, 1955 - San Antonio, Texas - Rice University's stellar quarterback of 1973 to 1976, Tommy Kramer was born. Kramer led the nation with 3,317 passing yards and 3,272 yards of total offense in 1976. Both milestones gave him the honor of ranking second in NCAA single-season history at the time. The NFF's bio of Kramer gives him the distinction of being one of only two quarterbacks in college football history to earn consensus All-America honors for a team with a losing record. Also in that 1976 senior season of his, Tommy registered fifth in the Heisman voting and was selected as a consensus All-American. The NFF voters chose Tommy Kramer to be part of the 2012 College Football Hall of Fame induction class and preserve his football legacy. Chosen by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 1977 NFL Draft, Kramer compiled nearly 25,000 career passing and 159 touchdowns yards during 14 NFL seasons.In 1986 he was picked as the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year and earned a spot on the NFC Pro Bowl squad.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by the Bain News Servicee circa 1914 and is titled " Columbia eleven football players ."