Outside of Joey Porter Jr., there might not be a current Pittsburgh Steelers player with better alumni connections than TE Pat Freiermuth. Not only does he have a great relationship with TE Heath Miller and QB Ben Roethlisberger, he also had the opportunity to build a relationship with Franco Harris before he passed away.
A fellow Penn State alum, Harris had the opportunity to announce the Steelers’ selection when they drafted Freiermuth in the second round in 2021. He didn’t quite get it all out exactly as he was supposed to. Freiermuth made sure to rib him for that whenever they got together.
“It was awesome,” he recalled about Harris announcing his selection, on the Podward State podcast. “I always gave him crap whenever we would hang out and get dinner and stuff, how he mispronounced my name on draft night. He was always like, ‘They told me before, but I got nervous’. He was a great mentor to me. Grabbing dinner and stuff a lot with him and his wife, Dana, they’ve been great to me in Pittsburgh.”
A 1972 first-round draft pick, Harris helped turn the franchise around and authored what many consider the best play in NFL history, or at least the most iconic, in the Immaculate Reception. Harris shockingly passed away just days prior to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the play.
“It was sad. It was heartbreaking,” Freiermuth recalled during the podcast interview. “I was actually running a radio show every Tuesday night and he was on the week prior to him passing, so it was just sad that it happened the time it did. But he left a huge mark on the city of Pittsburgh and Penn State as a whole.”
Harris had a Hall of Fame career, gaining over 14,000 yards from scrimmage with 100 touchdowns. Beyond the field, however, he displayed great generosity both to Penn State and the Steelers and especially to the community. Many quickly cite his personable nature as his greatest and most immediate quality. He even forged a lifelong friendship Raider Phil Villapiano, who was on the wrong side of Harris’ historic play.
As for Freiermuth, he’s still carving out his legacy. In three seasons, he has caught 155 passes for 1,537 yards with 11 touchdowns. However, 7 of those touchdowns came in 2021 during his rookie season. He only caught 32 passes last season in 12 games for 308 yards and 2 touchdowns.
While he no longer has Harris as a mentor, Freiermuth still has resources like Miller and Roethlisberger to call upon. Still, his passing left a void within the Steelers organization that nobody else could possibly fill. Guys like Joe Greene and Mel Blount are mercifully still around for now. But I feel like we’re still waiting for the next great generational alumnus, who doesn’t fade into private life after retirement, who is always available to the current generation of players.
