Classified by the NFL Hall of Fame as one of the top defensive games of all time in playoff history, the grueling on-field battle was won when a batted pass by Terry Bradshaw was caught by Franco Harris, who ran 60 yards into the end zone. Football Historian Pittsburgh, Dec 23, 1972 - a 0-0 first half was the direct result of two of the finest defensive teams in NFL football history - the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders of the 1970s. Pittsburgh finally opened the scoring in the third quarter on a 18-yard field goal by Roy Gerela and took a 6-0 lead when he connected on another one earlier in the fourth quarter - this time a 29-yard boot over the goal posts. Pittsburgh up 6-0.
Young Raiders' backup quarterback Kenny Stabler, took over in the middle of the third quarter from the flu-ridden Daryle Lamonica, Lamonica, ineffective because of a temperature of over 100 degrees, hit on just 6-of-18 passes for a meager 45 yards. With 1:13 remaining in the game, Stabler scrambled 30 yards into pay dirt, tying it up 6-6. George Banda's extra point made it Oakland 7 Pittsburgh 6. After three incomplete passes by Bradshaw, time was running out. Twenty-two seconds to go... Bradshaw dropped back into the pocket, Oakland's big defensive end Horace Jones charged in, and Bradshaw hurled a pass towards John Fugua, who was covered like a blanket by Jack Tatum. Fuga and Tatum collided in mid-air and the ball was batted by both players backwards at least 15 yards. Steelers' rookie running back Franco Harris, who was running up-field to help out on the play, reached down and grabbed the ball at his ankles... and ran 60 yards for the game-winning touchdown. Harris 'Immaculate Reception' made the score 12-7 in favor of the Steelers, who hadn't been in the playoffs for 25 years - 1947.
The hometown fans went wild, and rushed onto the field but were sent back into the stands when the field judge pointed out 15 seconds remained on the clock. Gerela point after touchdown capped the scoring, which read Pittsburgh 13 Oakland 7.
Compiled from NFL Hall of Fame Archives -
In 1972 the NFL rules clearly stated: 'that any thrown pass touched, tipped, or bounced off one offensive player directly to another was an incomplete pass and hence, a dead ball.
After the pass play that bounced into running back Franco Harris' hands and produced the winning TD, the three on-field officials called the AFC supervisor of officials, Art McNally who was in the stands. Referee Fred Swearingen said 'I didn't get clear view of the play.' Umpire Pat Harder and field judge Adrian Burk, along with McNally thought both Jack Tatum and running back John 'Frenchy' Faqua touched the ball at the same time.
Swearingen ran onto the field and signaled a touchdown for Pittsburgh.
Tatum, an outstanding hard-playing defensive safety, ran over to Fuqua and shouted, 'Tell them you touched it... tell them you touched it.'
Raiders' coach John Madden loudly responded after the game in which his team lost 13-7... 'There is no tomorrow for us now... One play... fourth down. Then the ball bounces off one man's chest into another man's arms and it's over. No tomorrow, I'm telling you this will hurt for a long time.'
In the locker room after the game, the Steelers were whooping it up with the fun-loving John Fuqua, who jokingly always claimed to be a French Count, and was playing pro football just long enough to get enough money to travel back in time to reclaim his stolen castle.
After he put on street-clothes, Fuqua, who once had live goldfish in his clear plastic shoe heels, showed off his fancy red knickers, a velour sports covered with tiny stars, and said: ' One of these is our lucky star' ... and pointing to the neat, fully dressed Franco Harris said, 'Stallion, my man... You look Immaculate.'
Only I know what happened,' Fuqua has often said, 'Physicists and mathematicians can only guess how the ball could have bounced that far back... What'd it hit... Someday I'll tell the story, but not now.'
