History Center to show off Franco Harris, Immaculate Reception artifacts
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
Franco Harris reminisces about the Immaculate Reception at the Senator John Heinz History Center last month.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
Franco Harris, left, along with Andy Masich, president and CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center, talk about the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
The late Franco Harris, left, and Andy Masich, president and CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center, pose next to a statue of Harris at the entrance of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. Harris is holding the football he caught in the Immaculate Reception.
Courtesy of the Senator John Heinz History Center
The ball caught by Franco Harris in the Immaculate Reception will be displayed at the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Ask fans of Major League Baseball what the greatest play is in the sport’s history and you’re likely to be told it’s Hank Aaron’s record-breaking home run in 1974, or Bill Mazeroski’s 1960 walk-off homer that led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a Game 7 World Series victory over the New York Yankees, or 1951’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.”
Pose the same question to football fanatics, and a consensus is likely to settle on one glorious, unlikely moment – the Immaculate Reception.
If you live around Pittsburgh or avidly follow the Pittsburgh Steelers, no explanation is necessary. When Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw passed the football in the final seconds of the hard-fought game with the Oakland Raiders on Dec. 23, 1972, it either hit the hand of the Steelers’ Frenchy Fuqua, or the helmet of the Raiders’ Jack Tatum and then ricocheted into the hands of the Steelers’ Franco Harris. Harris then ran the ball down the sidelines for a touchdown and into history. It propelled Pittsburgh into the playoffs and launched the team into its era of unassailable greatness, when it won four Super Bowl trophies in the five years between 1975 and 1980.
The New York Times matter-of-factly put it this way in the next day’s edition: “Television helped decide a pro football game today, the cameras reinforcing a decision made on the field by the referee about a 60-yard touchdown play that won the game … with five seconds left.”
Along with the sounds of “Silver Bells” and “Jingle Bells,” the air is sure to be filled with remembrances of the Immaculate Reception at Christmastime as its 50th anniversary arrives. The Senator John Heinz History Center is getting a jump on the celebrations starting Wednesday by showing off new Harris-related artifacts and displaying the ball that Harris caught that has long been in the hands of a fan from West Mifflin who grabbed it at the game.
Harris recalled at a press conference last month at the entrance to the History Center’s Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum that when he walked out on the field before the Immaculate Reception he believed it was going to be the last play of the Steelers’ 11-3 season, and “it was a good season and we have to play it to the end.”
With a statue of Harris making the catch standing nearby, Harris also remembered it “was one of the toughest defensive games we had ever seen.”
Among the Harris artifacts that will be displayed are a “Franco’s Italian Army” helmet that fans donned back in the 1970s; his football jersey from Rancocas Valley High School in New Jersey; the Pro Football Hall of Fame jacket that was given to Harris; and the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award he received. The museum already permanently displays the cleats Harris was wearing when he made the play, the turf he was on when he made the catch and other 1970s Steelers memorabilia.
But the most attention will likely be cast on the ball that Harris caught in the Immaculate Reception. It ended up in the hands of Steelers fan Jim Baker, who was then 25. After it was kicked for a field goal, Baker ran down on the field, scooped up the ball, and quickly exited the stadium. Baker was at the press conference last month and said to Harris, “You’re the best thing that ever happened in Pittsburgh.”
On Thursday, Dec. 22, at 6:30 p.m., the History Center is also hosting a panel discussion, “Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception: 50 Years Later,” that will feature Harris, his teammates and other guests. Tickets and additional information are available at heinzhistorycenter.org/Immaculate50.