Updated 12/30/2022 11:30 PM

Craig Hanneman knew he was going to Pittsburgh for the Steelers’ 50-year anniversary celebration of the “Immaculate Reception.”

What the former Steeler defensive lineman didn’t know was that the key figure wouldn’t be alive for the festivities.

Franco Harris — who hauled in the improbable catch for what would be a 60-yard touchdown to give Pittsburgh a 13-7 victory over Oakland in a divisional playoff game — died last Tuesday night of unknown causes. Four days later, the event was memorialized at halftime of the Steelers’ 13-10 win over the Raiders, fittingly on a last-minute touchdown pass.

Hanneman, 73, had arrived in Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon. He was having coffee in the hotel restaurant when news of Harris’ death flashed on the TV screen. Franco, who lived in Pittsburgh, was to have hosted two days of events in his city.

“Franco had just done a TV interview the day before before,” says Hanneman, who played for the Steelers in 1972 and ’73 and for the New England Patriots in 1974 and ’75. “He was going to host the party on the night before (the game), which was still held. He was also going to host a panel discussion of what led up to the immaculate reception. That was canceled. The whole town was in shock. The timing couldn’t have been worse.”

Harris, who was 72, was to Pittsburgh as Damian Lillard is to Portland.

“Franco spent a lifetime dealing with a fan base that worshipped him not just for his football agility but also for all the public things and civic activities in which he was involved in Pittsburgh,” Hanneman says. “He was everywhere.”

Hanneman played a role in what NFL Films chose as its greatest play in NFL history — a role he’d just as soon have avoided.

The day was Dec. 23, 1972. The Steelers were hosting the Raiders in an AFC divisional playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium, a battle featuring 13 players who would one day make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

With a minute and a half left in regulation, Oakland trailed 6-0. The Raiders had the ball second-and-3 at the Steelers’ 30. Surprisingly, Pittsburgh defensive coordinator George Perles replaced defensive end Dwight White — who had two sacks in the game — with the rookie Hanneman. He hadn’t played a down all season except when a starter was injured and had played only on special teams that day.

The defensive call was a stunt, meaning linebacker Andy Russell would blitz and Hanneman would engage Raider tackle Art Shell, then slide outside and cover the flank, which normally would be Russell’s responsibility. But Shell did not even attempt to block him.

“I still tried to engage him, but he went to the inside,” Hanneman says. “That took me a step to the inside, which got me steps away from where I had to be.”

Quarterback Ken Stabler scrambled left and ran 30 yards untouched to the end zone with 1:13 left to give the Raiders a 7-6 lead.

“I had containment,” Hanneman says. “That’s the one thing you don’t fail at, and I did. If there is one play in my career I could erase from my memory, it would be what I did there.”

The Steelers were down, but not out. They had the ball fourth-and-10 on their 40-yard line with 22 seconds left. Terry Bradshaw threw a deep pass to back Frenchy Fuqua, who was defended by Jack Tatum. The ball bounced off Tatum and/or Fuqua — there was some dispute it was actually off Fuqua, which would have negated the play — backward into the hands of Harris, who had been trailing the play. Franco scooped it up inches from the ground and raced to the end zone for a 60-yard scoring play that turned Three Rivers to bedlam.

Last Saturday, with dozens of his former teammates in the house, Harris’ No. 32 was retired at halftime of the Steelers-Radio.

“It was bittersweet,” Hanneman says. “Except for Jon Kolb (a tackle who was best man at Hanneman’s wedding), I hadn’t seen any of these people since 1974. It was really good to see the guys. Those were special moments. We had lots of time together during the game catching up.

“But everything was overshadowed by Franco’s not being with us. It was like a thick cloud. It was so incomprehensible. This was in the works for so long. Just days before, he was involved in planning everything.”

In the team photos from that night, Hanneman was No. 67, far left in the second row. He will long remember that day, and will always wish Harris could have participated.

“Franco will be remembered for his greatness on the football field,” says Hanneman, who lives in Salem. “But I’ll guarantee you his teammates will remember him first and foremost as one of the kindest teammates they ever played with. He was as kind man as I ever met. Quiet, didn’t say much. He never made anybody feel uncomfortable. He was a true gentleman.”

The 1972 season was when the “Steel Curtain” was coined for the Steelers’ front four. Hanneman spent time with the most famous member, “Mean” Joe Greene, during the celebration last week. Unfortunately, they are the only two still living of the seven players on that front four. Deceased are L.C. Greenwood, Ernie “Arrowhead” Holmes, Dwight White, Ben McGee and Steve Furness.

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After the Trail Blazers took care of the Charlotte Hornets 124-113 on Monday, coach Chauncey Billups addressed the problem that, if not fixed or improved, will keep them from advancing in the NBA playoffs.

Portland is 24th in the league in defensive rating at 113.8, an important barometer for success in the postseason. It’s a little better than what the Blazers were last year in Billups’ first season (29th) and what they were in 2019-20 in Terry Stotts’ final year (28th), but definitely not good enough.

Early in the season, the Blazers were in the top 10 in in defensive rating, but it has been a steady path to the bottom since then.

“Our defense has been inconsistent,” Billups said. “We’ve had a lot of defensive issues. We’ve had slippage. The first 15 games, we weren’t making shots but our defense was holding us up. We started making shots, then the defense has slacked off. We have to find the happy medium there.”

Scoring is not a problem. Portland is ninth in offensive rating (114.11) though only 18th in scoring (112.3 points per game). Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant are all averaging more than 20 points a game. If they finish the season that way — and I’ll bet money on it — it will be the first team in franchise history to have three 20-point scorers. Without better defense the rest of the way, it will be a hollow achievement.

“It’s not just going to turn around; you have to manufacture that,” Billups said. “The things you can control are communication and effort level, how engaged you are. We just have to try to get better.”

The Blazers have a great opportunity to make some hay in January, when the schedule turns favorable. They have 11 of their 15 games that month at home, including six straight at the end of the month. It’s fair to expect them to go about 10-5 over that stretch, which should get them into the top six in the crowded Western Conference race.

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Re, my column note regarding the binocular case policy at Allegiant Stadium for the Las Vegas Bowl(original story here), reader Joe Perimon forwards more troubling news: “A female member of our group was told she couldn’t bring her small purse into the stadium. She could check it at gate ‘whatever.’ She did and was charged a $20 fee to pick it up. Only in Vegas!”

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In that column, I forgot to mention the official Vegas Bowl pep rally, which was held the day before in a courtyard at the Virgin, Oregon State’s hotel for the week. Hundreds of Beaver fans — and dozens of Florida Gator partisans — were on hand along with the marching bands, cheerleading contingents and mascots of both schools.

It would have been nice for OSU coach Jonathan Smith and his counterpart at Florida, Billy Napier, to spend a few minutes to grace the event with their presence. OSU special teams coach Jake Cookus and the incomparable Jack Colletto stepped to the stage to say a few words for the Beavers, and the spectators loved it. They’d have given Smith — awarded a new contract worth more than $30 million a week before — a rousing ovation had he taken the time to attend.

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In the same column, I wrote that Colletto might be the most popular Beaver player since Terry Baker in the early 1960s. Reader Joel Fowlks offers the Rodgers brothers, James and Jacquizz, who took the campus by storm in the late 2000s. Quiet kids but exciting players and maybe the best brother tandem in OSU history.

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