I am sure my older Herd brethren have already had this experience, and I am sure my younger brethren will have the unfortunate experience in the coming years, but boy does it suck to experience the death of your heroes.
Growing up, a child of the 70s and 80s, I had two professional teams I followed, and a third because I was captivated by this weird offense. And, with kids being as fickle as they can be, it was not that unusual for kids to follow three or four teams from a specific sport. I have followed the Packers since consciousness - simply because it was a birth right and the Old Man grew up a Lombardi Packer fan a generation before. But, I also needed a team - one in the AFC and one that had a pulse. My cousin was an older brother that I did not have and was a Steelers fan - and since they were televised at least 8-10 times per year on NBC at 1pm, it was easy to latch on to that bandwagon. Later, I needed a 4pm team - and Air Coryell and the San Diego Chargers filled the bill.
Franco Harris was one of the visual images of my childhood. The Steelers became the Team of the 70s, winning four Super Bowls in six seasons. A running back that was 6'2" and 230 lbs with deceptive quickness and speed, a prototypical running back for the 70s into the 80s, Harris's abilities made him into one of the most popular Steelers - as evidenced by Franco's Italian Army. Harris became part of a distinctive one-two punch in the Steeler backfield with Vietnam War veteran Rocky Blier, a teammate that he needed to share carries and opportunities with to exploit all their talents. And although the Steeler offense could be dynamic with Bradshaw throwing to Swann, Stallworth, JT Smith, and Bennie Cunningham, there was no question that the running toughness of Harris and Blier was the engine that made the Steeler offense go.
Unfortunately, Harris was incorrectly tagged as being a "soft" running back because of his intelligence - when contact was almost inevitable, Harris found a way to get down and/or out of bounds to avoid big hits and collisions. That intelligence that extended his playing career beyond that of the great runners before him (Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Jim Taylor) was used as a cudgel to demean his career and his playing style, esp. as he creeped closer to eclipsing Jim Brown on the running list. As great as Brown was - arguably the greatest - Brown had a powerful and influential voice and often used it to slam later stars like Harris as "not tough". In 1983 or so, Brown used his position and the bully pulpit of Sports Illustrated to demean Harris and his stats. Despite those efforts, Harris remained above the criticism and simply plowed forward.
Off the field, Harris was a beloved ex-Steeler and Pennsylvanian. His commitment to serving the state and his communities is well chronicled and remembered (as Steeler Coach Mike Tomlin coincidentally discussed yesterday). Harris was quite involved with community improvement, esp. with an interest in helping the youth achieve. Harris was always available to help - using his fame and popularity to create opportunities for others.
Football was the first sport I fell in love with (quickly followed by all the others, of course), and the Steelers were my backdrop. The cards; the bed sheets; the mini helmets; the stickers. And in this region, Steeler swag was everywhere (sorry to Bengal and Brown fans). Bradshaw, Harris, Swann, Stallworth, Mean Joe, LC, Lambert, Ham, Shell and Blount. But for a couple of injuries, the Steelers might have won six championships in a row and would be the undisputed dynasty of NFL football. It is such an odd coincidence that he dies on the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the Immaculate Reception. As ESPN and NFL Films grew in importance, Super Bowl Sunday (and later, Super Bowl Weekend) in which the 30-min or 60-min versions of those four Super Bowls became part of the pre-game festivities and grew the myth of the black-and-gold. And it is still a joy to watch those clips and reminisce. Pittsburgh-Oakland; Pittsburgh-Miami; Pittsburgh-Dallas -- all were must see tv before that became NBC's Thursday Night mantra.
I cooled on the Steelers esp. after the poor treatment of Bradshaw at the tail end of his career and the dumping of Harris - but those Steelers are a considerable part of my childhood; wonderful memories.
RIP, Franco.
Growing up, a child of the 70s and 80s, I had two professional teams I followed, and a third because I was captivated by this weird offense. And, with kids being as fickle as they can be, it was not that unusual for kids to follow three or four teams from a specific sport. I have followed the Packers since consciousness - simply because it was a birth right and the Old Man grew up a Lombardi Packer fan a generation before. But, I also needed a team - one in the AFC and one that had a pulse. My cousin was an older brother that I did not have and was a Steelers fan - and since they were televised at least 8-10 times per year on NBC at 1pm, it was easy to latch on to that bandwagon. Later, I needed a 4pm team - and Air Coryell and the San Diego Chargers filled the bill.
Franco Harris was one of the visual images of my childhood. The Steelers became the Team of the 70s, winning four Super Bowls in six seasons. A running back that was 6'2" and 230 lbs with deceptive quickness and speed, a prototypical running back for the 70s into the 80s, Harris's abilities made him into one of the most popular Steelers - as evidenced by Franco's Italian Army. Harris became part of a distinctive one-two punch in the Steeler backfield with Vietnam War veteran Rocky Blier, a teammate that he needed to share carries and opportunities with to exploit all their talents. And although the Steeler offense could be dynamic with Bradshaw throwing to Swann, Stallworth, JT Smith, and Bennie Cunningham, there was no question that the running toughness of Harris and Blier was the engine that made the Steeler offense go.
Unfortunately, Harris was incorrectly tagged as being a "soft" running back because of his intelligence - when contact was almost inevitable, Harris found a way to get down and/or out of bounds to avoid big hits and collisions. That intelligence that extended his playing career beyond that of the great runners before him (Jim Brown, Gale Sayers, Jim Taylor) was used as a cudgel to demean his career and his playing style, esp. as he creeped closer to eclipsing Jim Brown on the running list. As great as Brown was - arguably the greatest - Brown had a powerful and influential voice and often used it to slam later stars like Harris as "not tough". In 1983 or so, Brown used his position and the bully pulpit of Sports Illustrated to demean Harris and his stats. Despite those efforts, Harris remained above the criticism and simply plowed forward.
Off the field, Harris was a beloved ex-Steeler and Pennsylvanian. His commitment to serving the state and his communities is well chronicled and remembered (as Steeler Coach Mike Tomlin coincidentally discussed yesterday). Harris was quite involved with community improvement, esp. with an interest in helping the youth achieve. Harris was always available to help - using his fame and popularity to create opportunities for others.
Football was the first sport I fell in love with (quickly followed by all the others, of course), and the Steelers were my backdrop. The cards; the bed sheets; the mini helmets; the stickers. And in this region, Steeler swag was everywhere (sorry to Bengal and Brown fans). Bradshaw, Harris, Swann, Stallworth, Mean Joe, LC, Lambert, Ham, Shell and Blount. But for a couple of injuries, the Steelers might have won six championships in a row and would be the undisputed dynasty of NFL football. It is such an odd coincidence that he dies on the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the Immaculate Reception. As ESPN and NFL Films grew in importance, Super Bowl Sunday (and later, Super Bowl Weekend) in which the 30-min or 60-min versions of those four Super Bowls became part of the pre-game festivities and grew the myth of the black-and-gold. And it is still a joy to watch those clips and reminisce. Pittsburgh-Oakland; Pittsburgh-Miami; Pittsburgh-Dallas -- all were must see tv before that became NBC's Thursday Night mantra.
I cooled on the Steelers esp. after the poor treatment of Bradshaw at the tail end of his career and the dumping of Harris - but those Steelers are a considerable part of my childhood; wonderful memories.
RIP, Franco.
