The Dubious Ending of a Great NFL Career

“It’s over,” said Dan Rooney, president of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And with that, one of the NFL’s great careers ended, like many others, with two sides snarling at each other in a contract dispute.

When Franco Harris approached the 1984 season, he had run for 11,950 yards in 12 NFL seasons. He was 363 yards away from pro football’s career rushing record. His career was known for consistency and durability rather than the open-field skills of such backs as Jim Brown and O.J. Simpson.

His eight 1,000-yard seasons were an NFL record and he gained more than 1,000 yards in each of Pittsburgh’s four Super Bowl seasons. Between 1972 and 1980, he was named to the Pro Bowl every year.

Harris, 34, who had run for 1,007 yards in the 1983 season, was in the option year of a contract that would have paid him $385,000 in 1984. The Steelers’ training camp had opened July 20 and Harris refused to report until terms were settled on a new contract.

And just like that, the Steelers cut him.

“I don’t think they really wanted me,” Harris said. “That’s what it came down to. When Dan didn’t get back to me this morning like he said he would, I had a gut feeling something would happen.

“Still, it’s a surprise. I thought negotiations were going on and I really felt they’d be finalized this morning.”

Harris was picked up by the Seattle Seahawks, for whom he gained 170 yards in eight games, then called it a career.

Also on this date: In 1945, Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers became the youngest major leaguer to hit a home run. He was 17 years 8 months 14 days old when he homered off the Pirates’ Preacher Roe. . . . In 1966, Kenyan Kip Keino broke the world mile record with a 3:53.4 in London. . . . In 1974, the Angels’ Nolan Ryan had his fastball clocked at 100.9 mph.