New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Meet the CT resident who played role in the Immaculate Reception
The stage was set for the most famous play in NFL history when Barry Pearson took the field at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on Dec. 23, 1972.
The Pittsburgh Steelers trailed the Oakland Raiders by one point with 22 seconds remaining in an AFC playoff game. With the ball at their 40, the Steelers had no time outs and were facing a fourth-and-10 situation.
The play called by future Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll was known as the 66 Circle Option. Pearson, a rookie receiver, relayed the play to quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Pearson was the intended target for a 12yard pass.
You know the rest of the story.
Pressured in the pocket, Bradshaw scrambled before tossing a pass to running back John Fuqua. Oakland safety Jack Tatum hit Fuqua at the Oakland 35, the ball bounced off the colliding players and Franco Harris caught the deflection before the football landed. He ran in for a touchdown and the Steelers won 13-7.
Fifty years later, the “Immaculate Reception” has endured in the annals of NFL history. But Pearson, who has lived in West Simsbury for the past four decades, was the player who was supposed to catch the pass.
“It’s something that you don’t forget,” Pearson said this week.
The play made Harris a star and was the precursor to the Steelers dynasty — four Super Bowl titles in six years, beginning in 1974. This weekend, Harris, the play and the 1972 team were set to be honored in Pittsburgh as the Steelers hosted the Raiders Saturday night.
But Harris died earlier this week, just days ahead of the play’s anniversary and the ceremony to retire his No. 32.
Pearson, 72, is in Pittsburgh to participate in the festivities, but he said Thursday that plans are in flux as the team — and the city — processes the loss of an icon.
“He was such a good guy. Very pleasant. Very positive individual,” Pearson said. “If you were on the sideline and something happened, he’d sit down with you. … He was a good leader. In the early years, he was just becoming that. After the play, that’s when his career started.
“And people here love him. He did so much for the city. They’ll miss him. Just one of those guys, you can’t help but like him.”
Pearson spent two seasons with the Steelers and has not been back to Pittsburgh much over the years. He attended a 25th anniversary event for the play, but missed a gathering 10 years ago.
The one former Pittsburgh teammate he has seen? Harris, who he last saw at a work event in Las Vegas seven or eight years ago.
They talked about the play, of course. Harris was accustomed to discussing the play with fans or reporters or former teammates.
Pearson? He moved to Connecticut in 1980 and ran a family business, settling into a far more anonymous life removed from his NFL days.
He retired in 2016, and he and his wife Linda also spend time at their home on Sanibel Island in Florida. It happens to be a place with a large population of Pittsburgh folks.
“And they know. They know who I am,” Pearson said. “But it’s not like it was any type of glorious thing that I did. It was all about Franco. He’s the one who did the job. He’s the one who should get all the credit.”
Pearson, who grew up in Illinois, was a rookie out of Northwestern in 1972. He spent the season on the practice squad and was only active for the playoff game because of an injury.
After a season of preparing and practicing, he embraced the opportunity. Especially when he was sent into the game for the most important play.
“I don’t recall myself as being nervous,” Pearson said. “It could be the last play of the year. It could be a first down, which is all we were trying to do. … I wasn’t shocked about it. I knew the play.
“I hadn’t really played, but I went through all the exhibitions and (practices), so it’s not like I had not played at all. But obviously, the difference is the type of game that I was playing and against whom and for what. I just wanted to go out there and run the play, and what happened, happens. In some ways, I’m glad he didn’t throw it to me because who knows what would have happened? It worked out the right way — unbelievably, the right way.”
The plan called for Bradshaw to hit Pearson for a first down before running one more play and kicking what would be a gamewinning field goal. Pearson’s route took him over the middle, beyond midfield.
Bradshaw was pressured out of the pocket, scrambling to his right as Oakland defenders pursued. Pearson was open as he ran across the middle from the right, but Bradshaw threw downfield.
Tatum hit Fuqua just as the pass arrived. The ball deflected back about seven yards and Harris gathered it. As Harris begins running up the left side, Pearson is seen moving across the field behind the play. It took all of 17 seconds. “It happened so fast,” Pearson said. “We all thought, how did it happen? How could it even happen? It’s like it happened on purpose. Off (Fuqua), then Tatum has to hit it, then Franco has to scoop the ball before it hits the ground, and he goes all the way. I mean, c’mon. That’ll never happen again.”
The Steelers were coming off eight consecutive losing seasons and had not been in the playoffs since 1947. The play seemed to awaken the franchise, even though the Steelers would lose to the Miami Dolphins in the AFC title game a week later and would lose to the Raiders in the division playoffs in 1973.
The dynasty took hold in 1974, with Harris as the centerpiece. The Steelers also drafted a pair of Hall of Fame receivers in 1974, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.
Pearson, who caught 23 passes in 14 games for the Steelers in 1973, was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1974. He spent three seasons in Kansas City and was a productive player — 27 receptions in 1974, 36 in 1975.
Three years after retiring, he served as an assistant coach under Jimmy Johnson with Oklahoma State in 1979. But with two young children, he moved to his wife’s home state of Connecticut a year later.
And while he has sporadically watched replays of the Immaculate Reception, he’s not one to dwell on his NFL past. But on Saturday night, he will be on the field at halftime when the city of Pittsburgh commemorates the play and honors Harris.
“It’s nice to be here,” Pearson said. “It’s a memory for me. Something I’ll never forget.”