“Franco was the heart and soul of our team,” said Joe Greene, a man who would know. “When Franco arrived, we became the Pittsburgh Steelers. Franco brought the Steelers out of the dark ages.”
Franco Harris was a great football player. There also is ample evidence he was a better human being.
“Anybody who came to him with a charitable interest, Franco always responded favorably,” said Joe Gordon, whose title during the 1970s was Public Relations Director but whose role in fact so much more. “The most significant thing was the Pittsburgh Promise. He has been the chairman of the Promise since it started. He gave significant seed money to it at the very beginning, and he has been active all the way through. It’s a really special program that provides scholarship money to high school graduates from Pittsburgh Public Schools. Over 2,000 kids have already benefited from it.”
More Gordon: “I remember when he was a rookie there was a request from Children’s Hospital that there was a young kid who was a big Steelers fan and wanted to meet a player. I went into the dressing room after practice, and I said,
