Franco left us this week at age 72... which is too young to die. Franco was a great ambassador of football, and was generally regarded as one of the really nice guys among its elders.
I do have to say, though... the pass Bradshaw threw that bounced into the hands of Franco Harris for that incredible touchdown was a really TERRIBLE pass, a guaranteed interception, out of reach of his target receiver, Frenchy Fuqua, and right into the breadbasket of the Raiders' Jack Tatum. But Tatum wasn't looking for the ball and didn't see it coming, and it bounced off his head and flew a dozen yards the wrong way before Franco got it.
That desperate, pressured pass was going to end the Steelers' season, and be a humiliation to the young Bradshaw from which he might never have recovered.
I have a feeling Terry will be particularly tearful this weekend, as football's broadcast crews catch up with the death of Franco Harris. Seldom does one pass turn into a half century of highlight, seen week after week on TV for decades, and now all over the internet so it can again be analyzed, frame by frame, by millions.
But this one pass did exactly that. It was the turning point, the moment in time when the Steelers went from losers to winners.
It can be said without too much exaggeration that Terry Bradshaw owes his hall of fame career in no small part to the awareness and quickness of Franco Harris. Franco was just going downfield with everyone else on the offense, hoping he could help rescue his team from a loss the experts were already counting.
And did he ever.
God rest and keep the great Franco Harris, and long may he endure in the hearts and memories of Steeler fans everywhere.