Dec 22, 2022 5 min read

Bill DiFabio remembers the day well.

He and some friends drove to a Holiday Inn in East Liverpool, Ohio, because they wanted to watch the game live. The game was blacked out in Pittsburgh because it was not a sellout.

“When (Oakland Raiders quarterback) Kenny Stabler scored, I thought I couldn’t believe this,” said DiFabio, who slammed some chairs after Stabler’s late touchdown scramble gave the Raiders a 7-6 lead in the AFC playoff game that was played 50 years ago today.

“I started swearing. I can’t tell you what I said. Then, while I was cleaning up the room, there was Franco running down the field. I thought, ‘Can you believe this?’ And I wasn’t high or drunk.”

What DiFabio witnessed was the tail end of what would be labeled “The Immaculate Reception.” Harris caught the deflected ball from safety Jack Tatum and scored a touchdown with five seconds to play and the Steelers would win this AFC playoff game, 13-7.

Nearly 50 years later, the unthinkable had happened. Harris, a hero to many Steelers fans, was dead at age 71. His catch was voted the greatest play in NFL history.

“It was amazing,” said DiFabio.

Harris was scheduled to be on DiFabio’s sports talk radio show yesterday.

“He asked me to call him Monday night to be on my show, the Bill DiFabio Variety Show,” said DiFabio, a Washington native and resident. “I just had Frenchy Fuqua (Thursday) on and closed the show with Joe Greene. We started to get emotional, talking about Franco and the play.

“I asked Frenchy if the ball hit him and he said, ‘I forgot.’ He’ll never tell. He’ll take it to his grave because people still talk about it. They’re still talking about it 50 years after it happened.”

DiFabio did his sports report Wednesday morning on WJAS Radio, then tried to grab a few hours of sleep. The sleep was interrupted by a phone call, telling him that Harris had died.

“The guys at WJAS called and wanted to know if I wanted to talk about Franco Harris,” DiFabio said. “I thought they meant the celebration. I didn’t know he was dead. (On Wednesday), I did something like eight talk shows. I was one of the few media people who got along with Franco from Day 1.

“My first thought was, ‘Did I wake up to a nightmare?’ I tried to go back to sleep but I thought there was something wrong here. So I called (former Steelers PR head) Joe Gordon and he said, ‘Yes, he died.'”

DiFabio and Harris were supposed to get together in January because DiFabio had some picture Harris could use to auction off for charity.

“I had pictures of some Homestead Grays standing on the dugout steps at Forbes Field that I wanted to donate to him because he was in the restaurant business,” DiFabio said. “I had a great relation with all these guys. Frenchy Fuqua, I think we were both crying, I don’t know.

“It’s tough for me. I’m not looking forward to Saturday. Then a few days later, it’s the anniversary of Roberto Clemente dying.”

DiFabio said one of the persons set to accompany Clemente’s mission of mercy was Tom Walker. But Clemente would not let Walker and others go.

Tom Walker’s son was Neil Walker, who played for the Pirates.

The repercussions of Harris’ death has struck local Steelers fans. Many took to social media to comment about Harris, the Hall of Fame running back and Steelers legend.

“I am in total shock,” wrote Tom Barry of Brownsville on Facebook. “One of my childhood heroes is gone. Franco was one of those people I assumed would live forever.”

“Franco was a great football player but even a better person,” wrote Harris’ former teammate Mel Blount. “He always made time for others. He was the most decent human being I have ever known.”

DiFabio said he and Harris were involved in 30 to 40 charity events. Signed footballs and posters were only a phone call away.

Maybe this story reflected best the type of person Harris was.

“We were putting him in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, which was then held at the Holiday Inn, Meadow Lands,” said DiFabio. “As soon as I asked him, he said, ‘Give me the date. I’ll be there.

“I told him, ‘You know what I want to do?’ He said, ‘No but you’re going to tell me.’ I said you see that kid sitting in the back, way in the back. That’s Doug Kotar Jr. I said why don’t you present him the football. It will be a nice gift. So I went to the microphone and said, ‘Doug Kotar Jr. would you please come up. His mother was wondering what is going on here. Franco gave him the football.

“And I think there were 600 people crying.”