Plenty of Heroes in this Story
Franco Harris, Mark Milanek, and Russell Malloy himself all come off well in this story:
Russell Malloy, 10, honored his favorite teacher — a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan — by getting Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris to autograph a ball for the reading tutor.
Russell wrote Harris a letter after spending $16 of his own money for the football, and asked Harris to sign it for Milanak, Russell's reading tutor at Pittsburgh's Bon Air Elementary School.
Russell had an "in" with Harris — his great aunt, Lisa Knechtel, has cut Harris' hair for 20 years at a downtown salon, and she gave the letter to Harris this week.
"I bought him a real football with my own money. Could you please sign it to my teacher for Christmas?" the note read.
Harris obliged and Malloy and his mother, Gina, gave Milanak the ball on Thursday with the school staff in attendance....
Harris was also mentioned in passing in this recent article, which equates the success of a football team with its success in keeping players off of the injured reserve list:
Nobody appreciates a healthy roster more than Dan Rooney, the Steelers' owner. That's one reason the Steelers of the 1970's, with Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Joe Greene and Jack Lambert, won four Super Bowl rings in six years.
But as an old-line N.F.L. owner who cares about the league as much as he cares about his 15-1 team, Rooney was concerned about this season's rash of injuries even before the Steelers' rookie quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, bruised his ribs. Roethlisberger is expected to return for the Steelers' divisional playoff game next Saturday.
"Why do we have all these injuries?" Rooney said during a casual conversation before the Steelers' game at Giants Stadium three weeks ago. "Is it nutrition? Is it the way we practice? Is it the way we stretch?"
Or is it, as Rooney and other pro football people have begun to wonder, that the players are too tautly muscled? In their search for more and more strength, are the players lifting too many weights, too often? Are their bodies too strong for their own good? Are they, quite simply, overtrained?
Terry Robiskie, who was named the Browns' interim coach after Butch Davis was fired, last week suggested a break from off-season workouts for defensive end Courtney Brown, the overall No. 1 draft choice in 2000, who has had knee, ankle and biceps injuries....
The [so-called "New York"] Giants had the most players on I.R. this season, 16, notably Michael Strahan, the All-Pro defensive end who tore a chest muscle at midseason. "I believe that, mentally and physically, there's too much training in the off-season," Accorsi said. "When you lose a player in a game with, say, a knee or a shoulder, that's one thing, but all those pulls and tears, I have to think they might be avoidable."
With all the mandatory off-season workouts, Accorsi said, too many players develop muscles that resemble a stretched rubber band.
"It began when they started to pay guys to work out in the off-season," Accorsi said, "and now I think there's too much off-season work."
Maybe it's time for the N.F.L.'s workout-demanding coaches and the players' union to reduce some of the organized off-season programs. Just as the players need a mental break, their bodies need a workout break.
As this 2002 e-mail "interview" shows, Harris' association with football ended when his playing days ended:
Franco, As a long time Pittsburgh Steeler fan, I want to say Thank You for taking the time to come and answer some emails. First things first, what are you currently doing, I have lost track of a lot of my favorite Steelers since they retired from the game. Second, Have you considered coaching in the NFL? - SPC Hudson
FH: Right now, I'm working with Super Bakery and we manufacture nutritional donuts called Super Donuts. They are donuts with minerals, vitamins, and protein. And, coaching has never been an option for me. All I wanted to be was a player. Once that was over, I knew that my ties to a football organization would be over because I never wanted to coach or be in the front office.
Franco, In retrospect, did you realize at the time the dynasty that you were associated? How does it feel then/now? Best regards, Scott
FH: Halfway through the decade, we realized that we had a great team and that we could do great things, and that we could probably have something here that we believed we had a chance to reach greatness. I believe that really helped us during the second half of the decade to maintain a certain standard and level of play. And, one thing that we did tell our self during that time was, 'let's make sure that we do enjoy these moments and let's try to share as many things as we can together.' And, we did. We just did a lot of things together as a team off the field and we really shared a lot of special moments off the field just as much as on the field. And, at this time, we are still doing those things. We are still sharing a lot of moments together.
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