December 23, 1972: The Immaculate Reception

December 23, 1972: The Pittsburgh Steelers play their 1st Playoff game, in their 40th season. And for most of the game, it wasn't looking good.

They began play in 1933, with Art Rooney having founded them. But Art's love of football far exceeded his knowledge of it. In 1947, they finished in a 1st place tie in the NFL Eastern Division with the Philadelphia Eagles, and lost a playoff. To this day, the NFL does not recognize this as an official Playoff game.

Finally, after a 1-13 season in 1969, Art's sons, Dan and Art Jr., told dear old Dad to let them run the team from now on. And in just 3 seasons, they had built the team into AFC Central Division Champions.

The 1972 season wasn't just the one in which the Steelers came of age competitively. It was also the year they became a cultural phenomenon in Western Pennsylvania. A group of employees at an Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh quickly took to Franco Harris, the team's half-black, half-Italian rookie running back out of Penn State and the Philadelphia suburb of Mount Holly, New Jersey. They went into the stands at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, wearing Army-style helmets, and sitting behind a banner reading, "FRANCO'S ITALIAN ARMY."

Similar groups copied them. A group of Polish fans honored linebacker Jack Ham with "JACK HAM DOBRE SHUNKA FAN CLUB." "Dobre shunka" is Polish for "Good ham." Running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua had Frenchy's Foreign Legion. Kicker Roy Gerela had Gerela's Gorillas. Drafted in 1974, linebacker Jack Lambert, one of the most intense players of the era, had Lambert's Lunatics.

Al Davis ran the Oakland Raiders, and had built them into AFL Champions in 1967. But they lost Super Bowl II, then lost the 1968 AFC Championship Game to the New York Jets. By 1972, they were dominating the AFC Western Division, but hadn't won a Super Bowl yet.

And so, on Saturday afternoon, December 23, 1972, Davis' Silver and Black marched into Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh to face the Rooneys' Black and Gold. For a game with such an epic ending, it was not good theater most of the way. The 1st half ended scoreless. Roy Gerela kicked a field goal early in the 2nd half, but it remained 3-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Gerela kicked another field goal early in the 4th quarter, but the Steelers couldn't put the ball in the end zone, so it remained 6-0 as the clock wound down.

Daryle Lamonica, known as the Mad Bomber, struggled in the 1st half, and coach John Madden replaced him with Ken Stabler, the Alabama lefthander known as the Snake. With 1:17 to go, Stabler ran for 30 yards to get into the end zone. George Blanda, the Raiders' ageless backup quarterback and regular kicker, nailed the extra point, and the Raiders had a 7-6 lead.

The Steelers did not yet have a reputation as the kind of team that could win this kind of game. And Pittsburgh fans, who had seen the Pirates win the World Series the year before, were not used to glory from their football team. The 50,327 fans inside Three Rivers figured the game was lost.

Among them was Art Rooney. "The Chief" left his suite and got into an elevator, to go down to the locker room to congratulate the Raiders and console his team. So he never saw the play that changed the course of his team's history.

Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who had been the top pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, had a difficult relationship, not just with head coach Chuck Noll, but with the Pittsburgh fans. He hadn't yet lived up to their hopes. Now, he had gotten the Steelers to their own 40 yard line. But it was 4th and 10, and there were only 22 seconds left, and the Steelers had no time-outs left.

Noll's intended play was "66 Circle Option," intended for Barry Pearson, a rookie who had been on the Steelers' bench all season long without being sent into a game. Now, he was -- his 1st professional play.

But just as no battle plan survives the first shot, Noll's play didn't last. Raiders Tony Cline and Horace Jones bore down on Bradshaw, and "the Blonde Bomber" from Louisiana had to scramble. He just got a throw off before getting clobbered by Cline and knocked to Three Rivers' artificial turf.

The ball got to the Raiders' 33-yard line, and it looked like Steeler running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua was going to catch it. But Raider safety Jack Tatum did what he so often did to potential receivers: He leveled Fuqua.

Big mistake: As with so many dirty soccer players, Tatum should have gone for the ball, not the opposing player. He could have intercepted it. Instead, the ball bounced off him, and went backwards to the Raider 43. And it almost hit the ground.

And for 50 years, the Raiders and their fans have insisted that the ball hit Fuqua first, which, under the rules of the time, would have made every Pittsburgh player an ineligible receiver after that. And they have insisted that the ball did hit the ground.

It didn't. Harris saved it, and took off down the left sideline, and scored. It was 3:29 PM -- don't bet any Steeler fan old enough to remember.

Steeler radio announcer Jack Fleming said, with only slight exaggeration, "From out of nowhere came Franco Harris, riding a white stallion, heading up Franco's Italian Army, galloping into the sunset!"

Like Rooney, Bradshaw didn't see the play. He remembered being down on the ground, and hearing a tremendous roar going up: "I knew that this was a good sound. This was the sound of something good happening."

Fans came pouring onto the field, and had to be cleared, because there was still an extra point to kick, which Gerela did, and 5 seconds to play. The Raiders could do nothing with the ensuing kickoff, and the Steelers had won, 13-7.

The surviving '72 Raiders still insist they were robbed. It would take until the 1976 season for them to win a Super Bowl. But the Steelers didn't win immediately, either: This was the season in which the Miami Dolphins went undefeated. Eight days later, they came into Three Rivers -- at the time, home-field advantage for Conference Championships was on a rotating basis, not decided by record -- and beat the Steelers, on their way to winning Super Bowl VII.

But the Steelers would win Super Bowls IX, X, XIII and XIV. Harris was named the Most Valuable Player for IX, receiver Lynn Swann for X, and Bradshaw for XIII and XIV. The Raiders would win Super Bowls XI, XV and, during their Los Angeles sojourn, XVIII. (Their MVPs, respectively: Fred Biletnikoff, Jim Plunkett and Marcus Allen.)

The catch became known as "The Immaculate Reception." What Art Rooney, a devout Irish Catholic, thought about that, only he knew. Others, noting that it was 2 days to Christmas, called it a Christmas Miracle.

But, along with Alan Ameche's overtime plunge to win the 1958 NFL Championship Game for the Baltimore Colts, Bart Starr's quarterback sneak to win the 1967 Championship Game (the Ice Bowl), and Dwight Clark's "The Catch" from Joe Montana to win the 1981 NFC Championship Game, it ranks as perhaps the greatest play in NFL history.

Franco Harris died on December 21, 2022, at the age of 72, 2 days before the 50th Anniversary of the play. On December 24, he was scheduled to be honored at halftime of the Steelers' Sunday night home game against the now-Las Vegas Raiders, with the retirement of his Number 32. At least he knew it was going to be retired.

In 2019, a poll ranked this game 13th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.

*

December 23, 1972 was a Saturday. This was also the day of the earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua, for which Roberto Clemente's doomed flight 8 days later was intended to help provide relief. I have a separate entry for that event.

Another NFL Playoff game was played that day, with the Dallas Cowboys beating the San Francisco 49ers in another classic, 30-28 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

The next day, Christmas Eve, the Washington Redskins beat the Green Bay Packers, 16-3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. And the Miami Dolphins beat the Cleveland Browns, 20-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The following week, New Year's Eve, saw the Conference Championships: Dolphins 21, Steelers 17 at Three Rivers; and Redskins 26, Cowboys 3 at RFK Stadium. On January 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Dolphins completed their undefeated season, beating the Redskins, 14-7 in Super Bowl VII.

There were 4 games played in the NBA on December 23, 1972:

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 104-97 at the Baltimore Civic Center. While the arena still stands, now known as the CFG Bank Arena, this would be the Bullets' last season in Baltimore, as they moved to the Washington area, and are now named the Washington Wizards.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 124-112 at The Omni in Atlanta. Pistol Pete Maravich scored 42 points, Super Lou Hudson scored 31, and Bob Christian scored 13 and had 25 rebounds.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 104-98 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls, 127-109 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Memphis Tams, 105-103 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

* The Virginia Squires beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 112-107 at The Scope in Norfolk. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 41 points.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Utah Stars, 123-117 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Billy Cunningham scored 34 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

* And the Kentucky Colonels beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 116-105 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

These games were played in the NHL:

* The expansion New York Islanders beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the expansion Atlanta Flames, 3-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The New York Rangers and the California Golden Seals were not scheduled.

And these games were played in the inaugural-season World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 2-1 at the Colisee de Quebec.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 3-1 at the Cleveland Arena.

* The Chicago Cougars beat the Alberta Oilers (as the Edmonton Oilers were named in that inaugural season alone), 3-2 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.

* And the Houston Aeros beat the Philadelphia Blazers, 7-3 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

Also: Arsenal played Birmingham City to a 1-1 draw at St. Andrews Stadium in Birmingham.

August 12, 1978: The Darryl Stingley Game

August 12, 1978: Darryl Stingley, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots, suffers one of the worst injuries in the history of football -- willfully inflicted on him in a preseason exhibition game.

Darryl Floyd Stingley was born on September 18, 1951 in Chicago. A running back at John Marshall High School, he was moved to receiver at Purdue University. In 1973, he was selected for the North-South Shrine Game and the Chicago College All-Star Game.

That year, the New England Patriots had perhaps their best draft ever, taking these 3 players in the 1st round: John Hannah, a guard from Alabama that Sports Illustrated would eventually call, on its cover, "The best offensive lineman of all time"; Sam Cunningham, the running back from the University of Southern California who was said to have done more to integrate the Southeastern Conference in 60 minutes against Alabama than the entire Civil Rights Movement; and Stingley.

In 5 seasons with the Pats -- what should have been his 1st 5 seasons -- Stingley caught 110 passes for 1,883 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also ran for 244 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also returned kicks. In 1976, he helped the Pats win the AFC Wild Card berth. (Only 1 to a Conference at the time.) On September 18, 1977, the day he turned 26, he did something no NFL player had done before, nor has since: He ran for a touchdown and caught a pass for another on his birthday. The Pats beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 21-17.

As the 1978 season approached, with a good quarterback in Steve Grogan throwing to him and to a new receiver, Stanley Morgan, and a line anchored by Hannah giving them time to let plays unfold, the Patriots were primed for a successful era, and Stingley should have been just entering his prime.

Instead, he never played another regular season game.

On August 12, the Patriots played a preseason exhibition game against the Oakland Raiders at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The Raiders had long been known as the dirtiest team in the League. Especially on defense. They had players like linebacker Ted Hendricks, "the Mad Stork." They had linebacker Phil Villapiano, whose name means "soft town," but he's actually from Asbury Park, New Jersey, a very tough town, and he lived up to it. (While in high school, he transferred from Asbury Park High to nearby Ocean Township High, considerably more suburban, but was still Asbury Park tough.) They had cornerback Lester Hayes, known -- for the way he bothered opponents, not women or kids -- as "Lester the Molester."

And they had cornerback Jack Tatum, who grew up outside New York in Passaic, New Jersey, a member of Ohio State's 1968 National Champions, a man who would title his autobiography They Call Me Assassin. When he hit a player, the player didn't see stars. The player was lucky to see anything.

The Patriots won this game, 21-7, but hardly anybody cared -- and not just because it was an exhibition game that didn't count for anything other than personnel assessment.

Grogan threw a pass, intended for Stingley, but it was a little off. Stingley reached for it. In came Tatum, like a speeding freight train, throwing his shoulder at Stingley's head. This compressed his spinal cord, and broke his fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae.

Although controversial, the hit was not against NFL rules at the time, as it was not helmet-to-helmet contact -- it was shoulder-to-helmet contact. No penalty was called on the play. Since then, the NFL has banned all blows to the head or neck of a defenseless player, and has disallowed players to launch themselves in tackling defenseless players.

Boston Globe reporter John Powers recalled, "You knew, right away, that it was bad. Darryl just lay there, motionless. And I remember, later on, seeing the doctor, asking him how long Darryl's going to be out, is he going to be able to play next year? And he said, 'You don't understand: Darryl's never going to walk again.'" He eventually regained some movement in his right arm, but that would be it. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Just when it looked like things couldn't get any worse for Stingley and the Patriots, they did -- not medically, but officially. The injury came just after Stingley had finished negotiating a contract extension that would have made him one of the highest paid receivers in the NFL. The new contract was to be announced when the Patriots returned from the West Coast. Instead, it was never signed. The Patriots agreed to pay for all of Stingley's medical expenses for the rest of his life, as well as his and his children's education.

Raider head coach John Madden went right to the hospital after the game, and he and Stingley became friends for life. Gene Upshaw, the Raiders' Hall of Fame guard, also befriended Stingley, and, later, as Director of the NFL Players' Association, used Stingley's example to secure benefits for disabled players.

Oddly, the Patriots actually got better without Stingley. They set an NFL record for most team rushing yards in a season, 3,165, which stood for 40 years. Cunningham ran for 768 yards, Horace Ivory for 693, Andy Johnson for 675, and quarterback Grogan for 539. They also set a record that still stands with 181 1st downs rushing. 

They won their 1st Division title in 15 years, but lost to the Houston Oilers in the Divisional Playoffs. They finally reached the Super Bowl in the 1985 season, as the generation of Patriot players that Stingley played with, including Grogan, Hannah, Morgan, Steve Nelson and Julius Adams was winding down. (Cunningham had retired by then, and Grogan had already been replaced as starting quarterback by Tony Eason, although Grogan did play in the Pats' Super Bowl XX clobbering at the hands of the Chicago Bears.)

Their Playoff run included a win against the Raiders, after which Raider linebacker Matt Millen picked a fight with Patrick Sullivan, Patriot general manager and son of founding owner Billy Sullivan, due to the heckling he was doing against the Raider players. Interviewed after the game, with a Band-Aid on his forehead but otherwise unscathed, the younger Sullivan, remembering Stingley, and also the Raiders' controversial 1976 Playoff win over them, the infamous "Ben Dreith Game" for referee Dreith seemingly handing the Raiders the win, said, "We're just getting back for Jack Tatum, and all of the crap that their football team has put on our football team over the years!"

In 1992, Stingley completed his correspondence course, and received his bachelor's degree from Purdue. He said he had forgiven Tatum, but also criticized him for not reaching out to him at the time. In 1993, he started a nonprofit organization to help troubled youth in his old neighborhood, the West Side of Chicago. He had a daughter and 4 children, including Derek Stingley, a defensive back in the Arena Football League. His grandson, Derek Stingley Jr., is a defensive back who helped Louisiana State win the 2019 National Championship, and was the 3rd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, by the Houston Texans.

Darryl Stingley died on April 5, 2007, due to heart disease and pneumonia, complications of his paralysis. He was 55, and had lived to see the Patriots' 1st 5 Super Bowl appearances, and their 1st 3 Super Bowl wins.

With Raymond Berry, Hall of Fame receiver for the Baltimore Colts,

then head coach of the Patriots, before Super Bowl XX, 1986

Tatum played another 3 seasons. Madden said the Stingley hit "was something that ate on him for his whole life." Just as Chuck Bednarik had attempted to see Frank Gifford in the hospital after a scary hit in 1960, Tatum claimed he had tried to see Stingley in the hospital, but was turned away. With Bednarik, he was turned away by hospital officials. Tatum claimed it was Stingley's family that wouldn't let him see Darryl, something the family still denies.

Tatum never apologized, not for that hit, nor for any other, saying, "It's unrealistic. If you want to play football for a living, you're going to get injured."

Despite 3 Pro Bowl appearances and his role in helping the Raiders win Super Bowl XI, he has never been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The College Football Hall, yes; the Pro Football Hall, no. If he hadn't done what he did to Stingley, would he be in? I believe so. But he did do it. If he had publicly apologized, would he be in? Maybe.

He worked in the Raider organization, and then became a successful real-estate developer. With some irony, while Stingley lost the use of his legs, Tatum lost his legs due to diabetes. The disease forced him into needing a kidney transplant, but he died on July 27, 2010, before it could happen. He was 61.

When asked to make a comment about Tatum's death, Grogan, who never met the man off the field, said, "I have a hard time trying to find something nice to say... I just can't do it."

*

August 12, 1978 was a Saturday. NFL exhibition games were played, but it was too early for college football. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4 at Memorial Stadium. Lee May and Pat Kelly hit home runs to support Mike Flanagan, and knock Jim Beattie out of the box after just 2 innings. Thurman Munson and Lou Piniella each got 2 hits, Chris Chambliss had a 2-run single, and Reggie Jackson singled as a pinch-hitter for Cliff Johnson (starting at DH because Flanagan was a lefthander), but it wasn't enough.

This series was drenched with rain. This game had 2 rain delays, the game the night before was shortened to 6 innings with the Yankees winning, and the next day's game was marred by the Oriole grounds crew -- the Yankees and their fans have always believed they were ordered to do so by manager Earl Weaver -- dumped rain off the tarp and onto the field, to get the game called, and get the score reverted to what it was at the start of the inning, turning a Yankee lead into a rain-shorted Oriole win. The Yankees won the series finale on the Monday, and continued their epic comeback to repeat as World Series winners.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1 at Shea Stadium. Jerry Morales and Steve Swisher (father of later Yankee star Nick Swisher) each got 3 hits. Lou Brock did not play, and Keith Hernandez only appeared as a late defensive replacement. John Denny over 7 innings and Roy Thomas over the last 2 allowed only 1 hit, a single by John Stearns to lead off the bottom of the 7th.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Each team scored 2 runs in the 12th inning, after only scoring 1 apiece in the previous 11 innings. Tom Hutton singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

* The Boston Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers at Fenway Park, 3-1 and 11-4. Jim Wright went the distance to win the opener, and Carlton Fisk hit a home run. Bob Stanley won the nightcap, supported by a home run by Jim Rice. Over the 2 games, Robin Yount went 1-for-9 with an RBI. Carl Yastrzemski, still hitting hard at age 39, didn't play in either game. Nor did Paul Molitor, about to turn 22 and having a fine rookie season.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Willie Stargell did not play.  Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3, but did draw 2 walks. Greg Luzinski and Bob Boone hit home runs, and Richie Hebner went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, in support of Randy Lerch.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. George Brett did not play.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Comiskey Park.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew went 2-for-4.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Pete Rose and Johnny Bench both went 1-for-4.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And a doubleheader was split at the Kingdome in Seattle. The California Angels won the 1st game, 7-5, when Danny Goodwin singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. The Seattle Mariners won the 2nd game, 5-3.