Franco Harris was doing “great, fantastic” on Tuesday.
That was the former Steelers running back Franco Harris, famous for the “Immaculate Reception,” speaking in an interview with Chris Russo on SiriusXM’s “Mad Dog Unleashed.” Later in the day, Harris died at the age of 72, just days before he was set to have his jersey retired by the Steelers. No cause of death was given.
With the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception on Friday, Russo joked that Harris has done about 50 billion interviews about it — and that this one would mark 50 billion and one.
Asked what Terry Bradshaw was saying in the huddle on the downs leading up to the fateful play, Harris said, “All of them are pass plays, and even that fourth down play my assignment is to stay in and block with the linemen, so things didn’t go too well on those first three plays. Then it gets down to fourth down, a long way to go, 22 seconds.
Franco Harris mobbed by fans after the Immaculate Reception. Bettmann Archive“And I go into the huddle and I tell myself, ‘Franco, this will probably be the last play of the season, it was a good season, just play it to the end.’ And he called that 66 halfback option, and once again my assignment was to stand in the backfield and help with the blocking. There wasn’t much adrenaline or whatever in the huddle. We were winning the whole game and right at the end Kenny Stabler scored. It seemed more of a letdown than anything.”
After being nudged by Russo that he was an outlet pass for Bradshaw once the quarterback moved out of the pocket, Harris said, “Yes, that’s correct. My thought was to release to be an outlet pass. Bradshaw being as big and strong as he is, with guys trying to bring him down, he was able to fight them off and get the ball into the air. When the ball was in the air, I tell myself, ‘Go to the ball. Go to the ball.’ That’s what Joe [Paterno] preached to us all four years at Penn State — always go to the ball.
Franco Harris runs away from Jimmy Warren on the Immaculate Reception play. AP“When he threw that ball, automatically my mind said to go to the ball, so I started taking some steps to the ball, and I remember nothing after that. It really blows my mind, that I have no visual, no recollection, no memory of anything — until I’m stiff-arming Jimmy Warren going into the end zone.”
Harris “has no idea” whether the ball hit the turf or not, even after watching the replay for 50 years and acknowledged that he was fortunate that he never stumbled and was ruled down by contact. He told himself to score a touchdown, not to go down or out of bounds even in field goal range, because “things could go wrong” on a kick.
The former running back reiterated that he has no memories of what he did when he caught the ricochet, but marveled about watching film of the play.
“It just blows my mind how quick that is! I’m saying oh my gosh! That ball flies back! Bradshaw throws that ball and just seconds [later] that ball is upon me. I have no idea how I reacted so quickly and got it and kept in-stride, and even looked up a little bit to try to get the lay of the land. I’m saying, ‘How did all that happen in just those few seconds? It didn’t make any sense. I just don’t understand it.
“I’ve always had great reflexes, but you don’t practice stuff like this. I’m just trying to see how quick it was. And how quick you have to react with something that’s never happened before. It just kind of blows my mind.”
Harris had a fun sense of humor in the interview.
Asked if he was annoyed that the Raiders to this day consider his legendary play a bogus touchdown, Harris deadpanned, “Absolutely not. Matter of fact, I feel good they’re still sulking about that.”
