Sometime between 1976 and 1979, a few of the Pittsburgh Steelers got together and opened a nightclub in one of the suburbs just outside of town. I heard about it and sold it to KDKA as a good live-shot on the 11 o’clock news with Bill Burns. They agreed, and so, there we were, me and my cameraman, in the club when several of the Steelers showed up for the grand opening. One of them was Franco Harris. There were others, but Franco, is the one I remember, probably because he was so much larger than life.

Franco Harris, was, and still is, famous for his skills on the field, highlighted by him snagging a catch deflected off another player that has come to be called the “Immaculate Reception.” It was a catch that shouldn’t and couldn’t have happened. But it did, and Franco Harris, did it.

I made him a part of my live presentation, and he couldn’t have been nicer. Just a regular soft-spoken guy. He was in no way full of himself, as he could have been. For years, Franco has been noteworthy for supporting the City of Pittsburgh and the Steelers organization. I just recently learned that he was a Pennsylvania delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

There are any number of good things about spending your life in the media. One, is that you get to meet people who turn out to be legendary. Franco, is one of the legends I was privileged to meet and I admit to being just a little bummed out about his passing. I won’t say he’s “gone,” because for those of us who were there in those days of the “Steel Curtain,” Franco, Terry, Lynn, Rocky, Jack, Mean Joe Greene, Iron Mike and a few others will live on in our hearts and minds. Such is the stuff legends are made of.

I didn’t realize I was part of the so-called “Steeler Nation” until long after I had left Pittsburgh. It’s not the kind of thing you can walk away from. Anyway, for a guy, if you’re gonna be sloppy and sentimental about something, it might as well be football?

Franco Harris, was 72. He is survived by his wife and one son. A second son, died of a heart attack in 2006.