Football Daily on 7th of March

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.

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.

Born March 7, 1943, in Portland, Oregon was a two-way player at guard and linebacker from the University of Washington from 1962 to 1964; Rick Redman arrived into this life. An interesting little tidbit for the University of Washington's Tyee Club website was that Redman had his heart set on attending a different school as a youth. The Tyee Club's website tells this story; "Twelve-year-old Rick Redman committed his heart to play football at Notre Dame on the day his father died, the same day the pair had watched his dad's beloved Fighting Irish on television. Six years later, he followed his head to the UW for a business degree and one of the most successful football careers in school history. When Rick graduated from Seattle's Bishop Blanchet High School in 1961, he planned to accept Notre Dame's scholarship offer. Then, his stepfather — John Sellen, founder of Sellen Construction — asked him to consider Washington "and all the relationships and connections I could make for my future if I stayed here."  "I'd been to games and practices and had been recruited by the Huskies, but I'd never been on upper campus. I didn't know anything about the school," Rick explains. One phone call to a coach and one campus tour later, Rick became a Husky." An intriguing path indeed to the Husky program but one that everyone in the great northwestern corner of the US is glad he traveled! One of Rick's strongest gridiron attributes was his versatility. He was a great blocker, but he also had the mobility and range to play linebacker and took on the chore of punting for his team, according to the NFF. In his junior season, 1963, he opened up with some adversity as Washington opened the season with three straight losses. The resolve of the team and Redman then appeared as the team turned their fortunes around and rattled off six wins in their last seven games taking the conference title, and even earning a trip to the Rose Bowl. Redman was named all-conference guard three times, All-American guard twice, and Academic All-American once. The National Football Foundation panel of experts selected Rick Redman's collegiate career worthy of display at the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995. Rick then followed his college career with nine seasons with the San Diego Chargers in the NFL. After hanging up his helmet for the last time, he took over his stepfather's construction business using those UW contacts and connections that were promised to him so long ago.

Born March 7, 1952, in Alcoa, Tennessee was the graceful pass-catching wide out of the USC Trojans of the early 1970's Lynn Swann arrived into the world. Lynn was a Swiss Army knife of sorts for the Trojans as His Head Coach, John McKay, asked him to catch passes, take on punt return duties, block, and even occasionally run the ball! Swann performed well at all of them! For his college career, Lynn returned 48 punts and had long gains of 92, 73, 57, 54, and 50 yards. Swann carried the ball 25 times for a 7.9-yard average per the NFF. In 1972, the Chattanooga Times selected Swann to their All- America Blockers Team. He was selected to the All-America team as a receiver in 1973, with the signature play of his collegiate career being a high, leaping, stretched-out grab of a pass in the 1973 Stanford game. Coach McKay commented: "He has speed, soft hands, and grace. We ask Lynn to do many things, and he excels in all." The National Football Foundation voted to preserve the USC football legacy of Lynn Swann in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. The Pittsburgh Steelers could have spent more time taking Lynn in the 1974 NFL Draft in the first round. He immediately impacted the franchise's success as the Rookie caught the AFC Championship game-winning touchdown pass to propel Pittsburgh into its first Super Bowl appearance, per the Pro Football Hall of Fame's website. In his second season, he overcame the "sophomore jinx" and led the NFL with eleven TD receptions and earned the Super Bowl X Most Valuable Player Award for his brilliant performance on the big stage against the Dallas Cowboys. He made many more highlight-reel catches in his 9-year career with the Black and Gold, totaling 336 grabs for 5462 yards and 51 TDs. He was selected as an All-Pro in three different years! Did he collect four Super Bowl Rings in those nine years? The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined Lynn Swann at 2001's induction ceremony.