I grew up a Vikings fan in the 70s and my best friend is a Steelers fan I will tell him that was too much footage of Franco running thru my vikings but then tell him Franco is one of the all time greats
They have a bond , not only as teammates! But as friends!! You have lived a great life when someone speaks of you in such a loving and honorable way! RIP Franco Harris ! You will be greatly missed! 🙏🏽
You can really see Joe loved Franco. I didn't know Joe lost list wife. I watched their story. What a family man. What a serious bad motor scooter on and off the field. These, we're MEN.
I am very saddened by the recent passing of Franco. I played against him in a high school game in the fall of 1964: Lenape Regional vs. Rancocas Valley. We were both sophomores. I remember one play in particular that would alter my life. I was a cover corner and weighed 145 lbs. At the time I believed I could make up for my size with fierce determination: Wrong! Down and distance didn't matter for Franco's RVHS team. It seemed their coach kept calling the same play: "Just give Franco the ball." ON the play that was special to me, I was the left side corner. Franco ran a sweep and came down the sideline straight at me. I hit him as hard as I could, rammed my shoulder into his gut, and wrapped him up. He proceeded to drag me backwards for at least 20 yards (It's hard to tell for sure when going backwards and your feet barely touching the ground). Someone pushing us out of bounds ended my humiliation. Franco was like trying to tackle a locomotive. I was wishing the numbers would fall off of my jersey so no one would know who number 23 was. For the next two years I ran cross county. During our senior year I met Franco again at a sports awards banquet. He was named the # 1 All County Football Star. I had won the county cross country meet. Franco was as humble off the field as well as on it, and easy to talk to. I sat next to him through dinner. We had a good laugh when I reminded him of the time I tried to tackle him, and that he was the reason I switched to cross country. I kept running in college and developed a great set of lungs. I liked Franco and followed his play at Penn State and with the Steelers. He was a great athlete, but it was the man under the #32 jersey I admired. Fast forward to 2001. I was on a search team at Ground Zero the week of 9/11 and became one of the many responders sickened by the toxins. Now, two flights of stairs and I have to rest. I am on oxygen 24/7 along with about thirty medications. If I had not become a long distance runner, I doubt I would be alive. Trying to tackle Franco and failing so badly was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Somehow it just doesn't seem fair that I'm still here and he is not. Thanks for changing my life Champ! RIP.
Growing up a Bengals fan in Cincinnati one naturally hated the Steelers. As I have aged I realized I was watching greatness AND class! 4 in 6 years! Franco was awesome thanks for the memories! Mr Green,very nice on behalf of speech. I would love to spend an afternoon listening to his tales of those years! God Bless
