@Meme Iselfaneye the POINT is NONE of the Refs saw this or knew it, the call was made with, in Swearingen's words, "we don't know what happened" Tatum TRANSFERED his MOMENTUM to the ball. But was it through Frenchy's LEFT HAND? @8:53 exactly this time stamp. that ball hit Jack's shoulder pad, possibly Frenchy's left hand was between the ball and the shoulder pad, the ball hit something else on the way back (helmet?). but to believe an entire football was neatly cradled by Frenchy's left hand 100% protecting it from direct contact with Jack, is just not reasonable.
Franco avoided the block and "jogged" in front of the pocket to be open for a ten yard pass to get them first down. It was strategic, not lazy. If he was lazy, he would not have run toward the ball once it was passed. He learned that from the Penn State coach.
Villapiano .... a legend in his own mind. He didn't have the angle and Franco was twice as big as he was. No way he pulls him down, forget it. Quit making excuses .... you lost !
How the hell was Frenchy Fuqua the victim? he was the one who has milked the Immacluate Deception during all those interviews and public events but delibratly not telling what really happened. NICE TRY NFL FILMS NOT BUYING IT!
The Steelers announced on Tuesday that the team will retire Franco Harris' Number '32' in a halftime ceremony on December 24, when the team hosts the Las Vegas Raiders at Acrisure Stadium. That weekend the Steelers will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Immaculate Reception.
That referee definitely called the police, only would have had 6 cops to escort his crew out of Three Rivers, would have been a full scale riot in Pittsburgh if he overturned the play in favor of the Raiders, don't think any amount of cops would have got the officiating crew out alive.
It's kind of a strange coincidence that Franco was Italian and involved in such a play...and there was the Hail Mary and Holy roller also. What is it with football and Catholic/Christian themes?
Forensic analysis shows that the 'original' recording was *doctored* to support the NFL's decision... And the 'touchdown' was sealed by an illegal clip from behind.
I know the raiders wud of never won their 76 SB alot of people didn't know that Franco & Rocky didnt play in the afc championship game and that year they both had 1000 yards rushing
I watched the play in real time. It was a legal play. The ball hit Tatum and then Franco caught the ricochet and ran in for the touchdown. I was 12 years old. I will say this. I was going for the Steelers, so I may be biased.
Playing football in that time compared to now was like flying P51 Mustangs compared to being a drone pilot. I big hit on a defenseless receiver was something you got congratulated for. A late hit was when you hit a guy after he was halfway back to the huddle.
The ball bounced off Raider Jack Tatum and didn't touch the Steeler. It's why it blasted so hard toward Franco. Then, the touchdown made it reality, get over it, end of story.
3:55 - "and Bradshaw, back and looking again....Bradshaw, running out of the pocket....looking for somebody to throw to...fires it downfield....and there's a collision!.....as...it's caught out the air!...the ball is pulled in by Franco Harris!....Harris is going for a touchdown for Pittsburgh!!"
Am I the only one who sees "the immaculate reception" as just a lucky play and not that big of a deal? Don't get me wrong. Im a little bit of a steelers fan but this play was kinda meh.
Franco caught that ball off of a bounce. That's why he didn't celebrate after he crossed the goal line. He knew that it could be called back because he caught it off the ground!
If the ball didn't touch Tatum, wouldn't you think he would be emphatic about that as being illegal? We hear many Raiders claim Tatum never touched it? Did anyone ever hear Tatum claim he never touched it?
Franco has never been on record saying that the ball didn't touch the ground when he grabbed it. All 4 camera views that exist of the play have no clear view of the ball, Franco's hands and the ground so only he knows.
I was born in Pittsburgh and it's a moment I will never forget and it's as clear in my head now as it was then. I was 15 and my dad had season tickets that year and the next year. We went to every home game that year (of course) and I believe the price of a ticket was around $7.50. Boy have times changed! We sat on the visitor's side, 4 rows up from the field and on the 35-yard line near one of the dugouts. I remember it was a boring game offensively but a great defensive battle. I believe it was 0-0 at half-time. The reason you see the enormous explosion of emotion after Franco's catch and TD that sealed the victory was two-fold. One, the Steelers finished the season 11-3. A record the Steelers had never come close to in their 40-year history at the time. No one knew what kind of season the Steelers were going to have and I doubt anyone predicted 11-3 was possible especially since the previous year they were 6-8 and 5-9 the year before that. It was already a year that far exceeded expectations. Second, the game looked like it was well in hand for the Steelers with just less than 2:00 minutes to go when Ken Stabler ran around the left end untouched for a 40 yard TD. But not all was lost. What the film doesn't show is Terry Bradshaws 3 successive incomplete throws from the Steeler 40 yard line. I remember being frustrated as to why he was throwing so deep downfield on those throws as they only needed to go about 20 yards to get into field goal range. The goalposts were on the goal line back then so if they could get to the 40 of Oakland Gerela had a makeable kick to win the game as the score was only 7-6 Oakland. Then the miracle happened. Fans erupted and 40 years of pent up frustrations came flowing, more like erupting, out. I, like many, jumped onto the field which wasn't too hard for me as we were just 4 rows up and the stands on both sides of the field went nearly to field level. 1st-row fan's feet were just a foot or so off the field. My dad said to stay on the sideline, which I did and stood next to linebacker Gerald Irons who I thought was the largest person I had ever seen. I witnessed either Pete Banaszak or Marv Hubbard throwing their helmet into the bench. Recently an NFL Films documentary was produced that covered what became known as the Immaculate Reception. It analyzed the Tatum, Fuqua collision frame by frame like they were forensic experts going over the Zapruder film. Conclusion: the ball never touched Fuqua. Close up frame by frame stop-action sequence showed the ball above Fuqua's fingertips. And the fact that Fuqua's running in the direction of the ball- with 2 energies going in the same direction. Tatum's direction, and energy, was going into the ball. When the collision happened the ball careened back towards the line of scrimmage - obviously from being influenced by Tatum's direction of energy. If it had hit Fuqua in the hands it would have dropped to the ground right there. Or if it had hit him in the back - which it clearly didn't as the ball was way above his out-stretched hands it still would have dropped to the ground at that point as Fuqua's direction and energy were going with the ball. Only Tatum's was going against the direction of the ball. Sorry Raiders fans.
Gary, I too was at the game that day. I was 16 years old. We had season tickets that year. In fact we had a 4 seat section on the visiting side line at around the 40 yard line about 15 or 20 rows up from the field. Great seats all season. However, we did not have the same seats during the playoff game and we only had two tickets. My seat was in the opposite end zone from where Franco scored. I think we were under the upper deck cover. The seats were not great, but we could see everything. I took my high school buddy. My mother was married to the CEO of Pittsburgh Testing Lab in Greentree, and that is where I got the tickets for the game. I grew up in McKees Rocks and when to Sto-Rox and played football for Sto-Rox. On the historic play, my buddy, said he could not watch the Steelers lose, so he put his head down and missed the greatest play of all time. After the play happened he asked me what happened. I told him he missed the great play of all time and will just have to watch it on tv tonight. The stadium and fans were ecstatic as you probably all ready know. In the parking lot people were honking horns and going crazy. A moment in time I will never forget. I just wish I kept my ticket stub. Thanks for sharing your story.
