On Dec. 23, 1972 — 53 years ago — Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris made National Football League history with the Immaculate Reception. The Senator John Heinz History Center is celebrating the football legend by changing the name of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum to the Franco Harris Sports Museum in 2026.
At an announcement event at the Heinz History Center on Tuesday, Anne Madarasz, the History Center’s chief historian and director of the Sports Museum, joked that she’s going to need a new name tag. “I’m now the director of the Franco Harris Sports Museum. I can’t tell you how much that means to me, and what it means to all of us here, to have his name forever associated with this institution,” she said.
