BETHLEHEM, Pa. - On the football field, Tom Donchez had a close-up view of the greatness of Franco Harris. That carried over into the real world, too.
“Franco was a great leader,” said Donchez, a star at Liberty High School who played football with Harris at Penn State. “He wasn’t just a football leader. He was a great leader in life.”
- NFL Hall of Famer Franco Harris died Wednesday at age 72
- Before joining the Steelers, Harris played at Penn State
- Former Liberty High star Tom Donchez played with Harris for the Nittany Lions
Harris won four Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s and rushed for more than 12,000 yards in a Hall of Fame career. He died Wednesday at age 72.
Donchez said the news hit like a freight train.
“It hurt,” said Donchez, who still lives in Bethlehem and retired after a 30-plus year career in finance and development at Air Products.
“With Franco, everybody really took this hard. He’s young and he worked for so many different charitable organizations that would benefit people. It’s a real loss for Penn State and Pittsburgh.”
Nittany Lion days
It was at Penn State under Coach Joe Paterno where Donchez first got to know Harris. Donchez was a sophomore in Harris' senior season. Both played fullback.
“He was a great running back and I wasn’t anywhere near his level as a runner,” Donchez said. "He was gracious about it. Nothing that we did on the football field got in the way of a relationship.
“Over the years, I would run into him in Pittsburgh or State College when he’d stop by the tailgate, and every year he’d put his arm around me and ask about my family. He was just a genuine person and genuine people are so hard to find. We’re going to miss him.”
Harris was a first-round draft pick of the Steelers and cemented a place in NFL history his rookie season. His shoestring catch in a playoff game against the Oakland Raiders in December 1972 came to be known as the “Immaculate Reception” – considered the most iconic play in NFL history.
"He was just a genuine person and genuine people are so hard to find."Tom Donchez, Penn State teammate
His death came two days before the 50th anniversary of the play and three days before tonight when the Steelers are scheduled to retire his No. 32 at halftime of a regular season game against the Las Vegas Raiders. The team is proceeding with those plans.
Donchez’s NFL career was much different. After Penn State, the former Liberty High linebacker and fullback was drafted in the fourth round by the Buffalo Bills. The Bills cut him just before the regular season. The Chicago Bears signed Donchez, and he played the 1975 season on a team with NFL great Walter Payton and fellow Liberty High alum Mike Hartenstine.
The Bears played at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium that October and lost 34-3.
“When the game was over Franco took my wife and I to dinner with Lynn Swann and we didn’t have one conversation about the game,” Donchez said. “It was all about friendship to him.”
The Penn State scandal
Donchez tore a hamstring later that year and never played again. Penn State football’s varsity lettermen gather regularly, and the two men’s paths would cross often.
Penn State fired Paterno in 2011 in the wake of sexual assault allegations against his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who was later convicted. Donchez said Harris’ response served as a rallying point for scores of Paterno’s former players.
“The very first person who came to his rescue was Franco Harris,” Donchez said. “He said time and again to reporters and the media that what you’re writing about is not the person I know. We all believed that. Once Franco did that, he drew the rest of us in.”
No cause of death was given for Harris. He had done media interviews Monday in the run-up to the anniversary of his famed catch – a play that many say changed the arc of the Steelers’ franchise.
'We'll remember him forever'
Simply put, Donchez said, Harris will be missed.
“He was really kind and gave his time. He was the real deal,” he said. “You could call him up for anything and he’d go out of his way for you.”
Donchez said he’s not sure if he’ll be going to his old teammate’s funeral services. Arrangements have yet to be announced.
“Franco was a beloved guy among guys who know how tough that business (of football) was,” Donchez said. “He was a wonderful man and we’ll remember him forever."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
