The “Immaculate Reception,” or the “Immaculate Deception,” as it became known in Oakland, is being remembered Christmas Eve evening as the two teams, the Raiders and Steelers, meet in Pittsburgh 50 years after it happened.
It was Dec. 23, 1972 at Three Rivers Stadium that the Steelers pulled out a last-play, 13-7 miracle win over the Raiders in the AFC divisional playoffs when Terry Bradshaw’s pass intended for running back Frenchy Fuqua was deflected into the hands of running back Franco Harris, who carried it into the end zone for a touchdown. To this day, no one knows if the ball bounced off the hands of Oakland cornerback Jack Tatum, from Ohio State, or Fuqua’s helmet. It was ruled that it had caromed off Tatum’s hands, making it a legal catch. If it had hit Fuqua’s helmet, then it would have been incomplete since two offensive players couldn’t touch the ball.
The Raiders argued vehemently, but to no avail.
In the first postseason game in their 39-year history, the Steelers had won in dramatic, historic fashion.
The AFC playoffs were close throughout. In the other divisional game the next day, Dec. 24, at the Orange Bowl, the Miami Dolphins rallied with a touchdown with four minutes left to defeat the Browns 20-14 and keep their perfect season alive.
It looked like it would be a third meeting with that season between the AFC Central rival Browns and Steelers, this time in the conference championship game in Pittsburgh, when Cleveland went ahead of Miami 14-13 on Mike Phipps’ 27-yard TD pass to wide receiver Fair Hooker with 8:11 left.
But the Dolphins took the ensuing kickoff and, keyed by a 35-yard pass from Bob Griese to former Browns wide receiver Paul Warfield on a post pattern, beating his old teammate, cornerback Ben Davis, they scored the winning TD on an eight-yard run by Jim Kiick.
The Browns had traded Warfield to the Dolphins to get their No. 3 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, which they used to select Phipps.
In the AFC Championship Game a week later at Pittsburgh, the Dolphins converted a fake punt late in the fourth quarter to pull out a 21-17 win.
Then in Super Bowl VII, the Dolphins turned back Washington 14-7 to complete their 17-0 season, the first in pro football since the 1948 Browns went 15-0 to win their third straight title in the All-America Football Conference.
Steve King
