HARRIS, Franco

(b. 7 March 1950 in Fort Dix, New Jersey), premier running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers through four Super Bowl victories; he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990.

The son of Chad Harris, a career army officer, and Gina Parenti Harris, his Italian-born wife, Harris graduated from Rancocas Valley Regional High School, in Mount Holly, New Jersey, in 1968 and then went to Pennsylvania State University. He graduated in 1972 with a degree in hotel and restaurant management. By that time he had already established himself as a good running back. Though considered a backup to Lydell Mitchell, in three years Harris carried the ball 380 times for 2,002 yards.

Harris was drafted by a team of perennial losers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, in the first round of the 1972 draft and began his long career under the legendary coach Chuck Noll. In his debut season, however, Harris started only two of his first seven games. Nevertheless, his performance was good enough to make him only the fifth rookie in National Football League (NFL) history to gain over 1,000 yards. His longest run from scrimmage was seventy-five yards.

For the first time in its history, the Steelers made it to the playoffs in 1972, in which they fought a titanic defensive battle with the Oakland Raiders. Leading 6–0 on two field goals by Roy Gerela, an Oakland touchdown by Ken Stabler suddenly put the Steelers behind with only 1:13 left in the game. As time ran down, the Steelers faced a fourth and ten from their own forty-yard line. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw's pass to "Frenchy" Fuqua bounced off defensive back Jack Tatum. Harris caught the rebound off his shoe-tops at the Oakland forty-two yard line and carried it in for the winning score as time expired, a catch immortalized as the "immaculate reception." The Steelers advanced to the American Football Conference (AFC) championship game only to be edged 21–17 by the Miami Dolphins on their way to a perfect season.

The 1974 season was a glory year for the Steelers. In the first round of the playoffs against Buffalo, Harris broke the game open in the second quarter, capping a sixty-six-yard drive by diving in from the one-yard line. After linebacker Jack Ham recovered a Buffalo fumble on the first play, Harris ended another drive with a four-yard burst. Buffalo never recovered and the Steelers emerged victorious at 32–14. Trailing Oakland in the AFC championships, Harris scored twice in the fourth quarter, tying the game with an eight-yard run. Following a Lynn Swann touchdown and a field goal by Oakland, Harris ensured the 24–13 victory for the Steelers with a twenty-one-yard run late in the game. This gave the Steelers their first Super Bowl appearance, playing against the Minnesota Vikings. The only first-half score in this game was a safety for the Steelers, but Harris gave them their margin of victory with a nine-yard run in the third quarter as Pittsburgh went on to a 16–6 victory. On thirty-four carries, Harris gained 158 yards; both were highs for a Super Bowl. He was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl IX.

The following year again pitted Pittsburgh against Oakland in the playoffs. On an icy field, with the score 3–0 going into the fourth quarter, Harris scored the Steelers' first touchdown in their 16–10 victory. Against Baltimore in the conference championship game, Harris started the Steeler scoring with a three-yard run in the opening quarter, as Pittsburgh prevailed 28–10. The Steelers trailed Dallas in Super Bowl X but came back to win 21–17 with two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Harris carried the ball twenty-seven times for eighty-two yards in the game.

In 1976 the Steelers set a playoff record with a total of 526 offensive yards against Baltimore in a 40–14 win. Facing Oakland, with Harris out of the lineup in the conference championship game, Pittsburgh lost 24–7. The following year the Steelers dropped the playoff opener 34–21 to the Denver Broncos, though Harris scored on a one-yard dive.

The Steelers got their revenge against Denver in the opening round of the 1978 playoffs as Harris scored the game's first two touchdowns on a one-yard dive and an eighteen-yard run, leading to a final score of 33–10. The famed "Steel Curtain" defense showed its mettle in the AFC championship game, allowing Houston only a field goal and a safety. Harris got the offense started with a seven-yard run; the Steelers won, 34–5. Super Bowl XIII again pitted Pittsburgh against Dallas. Harris, who carried twenty times for sixty-eight yards, scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to give the Steelers a narrow 35–31 victory. With that win the Steelers became the first team to win three Super Bowls.

In the 1979 playoffs Harris scored the last Pittsburgh touchdown in their opening win over Miami, 34–14. They continued their defensive mastery in the conference championship with a 27–13 thumping of Houston. Super Bowl XIV, however, was a struggle. Harris scored Pittsburgh's first touchdown in the second quarter, but the Los Angeles Rams led 19–17 at the end of the third quarter. In the final period the Steelers took the lead, 24–19, but a Rams' drive threatened to end the Steeler run. After linebacker Jack Lambert intercepted a pass at the Pittsburgh fourteen-yard line, Harris capped the long drive by diving in from the one. Pittsburgh repeated as Super Bowl champions and captured their fourth title of the decade, then an NFL record.

Harris played thirteen seasons in the NFL: twelve with the Steelers and one, his last, with Seattle. In 173 games he carried the ball 2,949 times, gaining 12,120 yards. He rushed for over 1,000 yards eight times, gaining 1,246 yards in the 1975 season. He averaged 4.1 yards per carry and scored ninety-one touchdowns. As a receiver he caught 307 passes for 2,287 additional yards and nine more touch-downs. He earned four Super Bowl rings.

Following his retirement Harris lived on Pittsburgh's North Side with his wife, Dana Dokmanovich Harris, and son, Franco Dokmanovich "Dok" Harris. Committed to community service, he worked for Children's Hospital and a number of other charities. In 1982 he was awarded the Whizzer White Humanitarian Award.

At six feet, two inches tall and 230 pounds, Harris earned his reputation as a durable power back. He played intelligently, however, avoiding unnecessary punishment by sliding out of bounds when he felt he had gained as much yardage as possible. As a result, he missed only nine games in thirteen years. He was the leading rusher in thirteen of the nineteen postseason games in which he played and was selected to the Pro Bowl nine times. At the time of his retirement, only Walter Payton and Jimmy Brown had gained more yardage on the ground. College and Pro Football Newsweekly named him their player of the decade of the 1970s. Yet despite his many accomplishments, Harris is best remembered for one play in his rookie season, the "immaculate reception" that brought the Steelers their first-ever playoff victory.

Articles about Franco Harris can be found in David L. Porter, ed., Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Football (1987), and Bob Carroll et al., Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (1997). Magazine coverage includes Rich Emert, "The Play of a Lifetime," Tribune-Review (21 Dec. 1997). Further information can be found in the National Pro Football Hall of Fame archives in Canton, Ohio.

Art Barbeau