Franco Harris recalls ‘Immaculate Reception’
Stories surrounding the Immaculate Reception are legion, which is appropriate considering that the main subject once had an “Italian Army” named after him.
And what would a visit from Franco Harris be without him sharing at least one anecdote with regard to his Dec. 23, 1972, catch and ensuing touchdown that clinched the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-ever playoff victory.
“How many of you who were there left early?” he asked fellow guests at the Good Guys Club holiday luncheon, held at Atria’s Restaurant in Peters Township.
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Franco Harris prepares to sign a portrait for Suzanne Walton. The portrait, by retired Yough High School art teacher Bob Weaver, portrays Harris in his playing days for the Penn State Nittany Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers.
The question drew a round of knowing laughs, as longtime Steelers fans are well aware that Three Rivers Stadium started to empty rapidly when the Oakland Raiders took a 7-6 lead with just over a minute remaining in the game. Among the nonbelievers was a friend of Harris with whom he had lunch about five years ago.
“She said, ‘After all these years, this year I finally confessed to my family that I left the game early,'” he recalled. “She said she was walking across the Sixth Street Bridge and she heard this roar. There was this kid with a radio, and she asked, ‘What happened? What happened?’ ‘Franco scored a touchdown!’ And I guess she kept it a secret the whole time, that she left early.”
At the invitation of club founder Jim O’Brien, a longtime Upper St. Clair resident who now lives in North Strabane Township, Harris spent the early afternoon of Dec. 20 signing memorabilia for luncheon guests as they shared their memories of him as a running back for the Steelers and, in a collegiate career wrapping up in early ’72, Penn State.
“I remember you in the Senior Bowl,” Lawrence Korchnak, retired Baldwin-Whitehall School District superintendent, told Harris. “I said, ‘That’s the guy we ought to draft.'”
Franco was somewhat incredulous: “How could you tell?”
Korchnak: “I saw you run.”
He was right on the money, of course, even though Harris admitted to having an “anywhere but Pittsburgh” attitude at the time. Hey, at that point, the Steelers had participated in only one playoff game in their 39-year history, falling 21-0 to Philadelphia in 1947 to break a divisional tie.
In case you’re keeping score, that means the Immaculate Reception resulted in the first playoff touchdown in team history, as the Steelers’ other points in the Raiders game were via field goal. Not bad for a 22-year-old rookie who hadn’t given playing professionally much of any thought, as he revealed.
Now 68, Harris has any number of business pursuits to fill his post-football résumé, including some new ventures: AdeNation, producing sports drinks that emphasize hydration; SilverSport, featuring products that are odor-free and antimicrobial; and SilverArmor, “which we feel is the best paint out there against mold, mildew and odor-causing bacteria.”
Plus he has Franco’s Pizzeria at Heinz Field.
“If you know me, I love branding things. I love trademarks. So I said, ‘OK. One pizza, we’re going to name ‘Gina Margherita.’ That’s my mother, Gina Parenti,” Harris explained. And in honor of the Steelers’ first family, “I came up with the name ‘PeppeRooney.'”
Along with business, Harris continues a long tradition of service to the community. One of his responsibilities is serving as chairman of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum Champions Committee.
“As Myron Cope would say, ‘He’s not an honorary chairman,'” O’Brien said, alluding to the late Steelers broadcaster. “He comes to every meeting with an agenda and conducts the meeting. Franco, it seems to me that you take your role seriously as an ambassador for the city of Pittsburgh and the Steelers.”
That’s in his nature, according to his wife, Dana Dokmanovich, who also was O’Brien’s guest at the luncheon.
“He has a capacity for dealing with people, accepting people, loving people, that drives me crazy,” she said. “You want to get from Point A to Point B, especially in the airport. No can do. I look like the most miserable creature on the planet: You’re pushing. You’re pulling. ‘Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go.’ And he always has time for everyone.
“That unlimited capacity is a gift,” she continued. “You either have it or you don’t. You can try to aspire to it, but it’s not easy. So as crazy as he makes me, I give him to all of you, because he truly is worth the effort.”