Adam Bottner
Appearances
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
So in 1972, I am 10 years old, and I just fall in love with football. I love playing it with my friends every weekend in the park, and I love watching the NFL on Sundays every week. And I'm not very good at playing in the park, so I start focusing more on the watching of it on Sundays. And I just fall in love with everything about football.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
Now, my family had moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a couple years before. So in the early 70s, the Steelers became a great team. And 1972 was really the first year that they had been great. in like 40 years. So that was the year I started liking football. So I decided I was going to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. And I fell in love with one particular player named Franco Harris.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
He was Rookie of the Year in 1972. He was a great running back from Penn State. And he was my guy. And the Steelers were great that year. And they went to the playoffs for the first time in 40 years. And I was so excited. And I stayed home to watch the playoff game. They played the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the playoffs. And the Steelers were losing 7-6 as time was running out.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
They had about 20 seconds left in the game. Terry Bradshaw, the quarterback for the Steelers, fades back. Probably the last play of the game was fourth down. It wasn't going to happen. He throws it downfield. Ball gets batted down. Game should be over. But out of nowhere... Franco Harris appears, like magically, and grabs the ball just as it's about to hit the ground.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
He shouldn't even have been in the area, supposedly. He picks it up. Nobody even tries to tackle because nobody can figure out what just happened. He runs 50 yards for a touchdown. The Steelers win. I'm out of my mind. I'm so excited. Franco Harris is my hero for life at this point. The Steelers are my favorite team. It's ridiculous how much I love the Steelers.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
The crazy thing was we had a friend in Pittsburgh who somehow became friends with Franco Harris somehow, and he knew how much I loved the Steelers and Franco. So he would send me stuff in the mail. I'd get an autographed picture. I'd get Franco's Italian Army T-shirt, which Franco was part Italian, and the Italian community in Pittsburgh embraced him. So I was just so in love with Franco Harris.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
It was ridiculous, obviously. But you're a 10-year-old kid, and these things happen. You just get so focused on these things. It can only happen to a 10-year-old, you know? And I grow up, though, and I continue to be, you know, he continues to be my hero. It's just sort of ingrained in your brain. You can't help it. I loved Franco Harris so much that in 1975, I invited him to my bar mitzvah.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
I just, I loved the man. And he was so cool that he actually sent me a telegram and said, I can't make it. I'm actually playing that Saturday night. I'll run up a few yards for you. And it just more etched in my mind how much I love Franco Harris. And so... I was just so lucky. And this friend of ours, this Max Gomberg from Pittsburgh, he actually took me to two Super Bowls in the 70s.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
And that became my identity, was I was the guy from Pittsburgh. I lived in Chicago, but I was the guy from Pittsburgh. I had the only Pittsburgh Steelers jacket in the neighborhood. And I just loved the Steelers. So now flash forward 40 years. And Max Gomberg actually became sort of my hero, too, because he did all these things for me. I don't know why. He was just such a good guy.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
I think he didn't have kids until later. And I was just this kid that he kind of took under his wing. And so... as happens to everybody, Max passes away. And he had a great life. And my family really didn't keep up with Max as much as I did. And so I flew out to Pittsburgh to go to his funeral. Because he was kind of my hero. And so I go to Pittsburgh.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
And in the back of my mind, I am kind of hoping that Franco Harris might be at the funeral. I can't say that was my motivation, but I'm thinking, that would be pretty cool if he was actually there. So I go to the funeral home, and I say hi to Max's family, and I'm looking around. And there's no Franco. And I'm like, you know what? Grow up. You're 50 some odd years old.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
This isn't why you were supposed to be here. This wasn't supposed to happen necessarily. Just be a man. So I start walking out of the funeral home. And all of a sudden, Franco Harris, the Franco Harris, walks in. And I was about to go to my car to go to the funeral procession to the cemetery. The Franco Harris walks in and my jaw drops like a 10-year-old kid.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
I'm catapulted backwards in time to when I was 10. I was like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. And I couldn't contain myself. And fortunately, fortunately, I didn't say anything. Because if I would have, it would have been really ridiculous. I would have been like making an absolute fool of myself at a funeral of all places, right? You just don't do that.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
So it was amazing that I had this wave of common sense that came over me and allowed me to not do this really stupid thing that I was contemplating. And so I get in my car, and I'm about to start driving. All of a sudden, I look. A Silver Honda Pilot right in front of me. Franco Harris is getting into his car. So I thought maybe he was just paying respects. He's going to go home. He's a busy man.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
He's like the mayor of Pittsburgh, basically. And now he's in his car. He's getting in the funeral procession. So I get in my car, and I try and get wedged in between so I can now be directly behind Franco Harris. Why? It mattered that I was right behind Frank O'Hara's car in a funeral procession. I don't know why it was so important to me.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
But I was willing to bang into other cars and stuff so I could be in the line right behind him. Obviously, once you're in the funeral procession, you're locked into that position. Nobody is going to be in back of Frank O'Hara's besides me. And so I'm so excited. I'm calling my friends. I'm like, his license plate is X175.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
And I'm like so into the idea that I'm in the funeral possession behind Franco Harris. It's ridiculous. And I'm 50-something years old. So stupid. But I can't help it because it's like I'm a 10-year-old again. And so we get to the cemetery. He parks. I park right behind him. He walks right there to the gravesite service. And I'm like, oh. So I stand right next to him.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
And at this point, it's weird, right? I mean, it's just so ridiculous that I'm following this man around. So I'm standing next to Franco Harris. And finally, I'm like, OK, grow up. Say something. You want to say something, say it. So I look at him. I go, Franco. I have to tell you. And I start telling him how I know him. And I said, you know, Max was a very good friend of ours.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
And you have no idea how much you affected my life. You changed my life. That was my identity. I said, Max was my hero. But you were also my hero. And you have no idea how much you affected my life. You were like my hero. And he goes... Come here. And he hugs me with this big bear hug. And he's a big man. He's got these big bear hands. And I'm like, this is unbelievable.
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
I'm catapulted to when I was 10 years old. Literally, I'm sure I had a dream. Not at the funeral, but I'm sure I had a dream about hanging out with Franco Harris. And over the past few years,
The Moth
The Moth Podcast: Football!
I have been working on, working on myself, and I've been reading a book called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, and it teaches, be in the moment, don't go in the past, don't go in the future, stay right here in the moment. And it is great, and it has changed my life. But I will tell you something, sometimes going backwards feels really, really good.