“If you want to believe God’s on your side in a football game or a soccer game, that’s fine, as long as you live your life on God’s side,” Vallone said.
Fans tailgating near the Immaculate Reception monument before the Steelers’ Dec. 11 game against the Ravens could readily recite the moment-by-moment details of the play. That includes those who saw it live, and those who weren’t even born then.
The 1972 game was subject to local blackout rules. But Buster Boots, living northwest of Pittsburgh in Ellwood City, recalled his family using a large antenna to catch the broadcast “on a big old 25-inch RCA TV with a picture coming in from Cleveland.”
After the play, “we were going nuts,” he recalled. “We got to see it live.”
John Michael of nearby Aliquippa said he saw the Immaculate Reception in person. He said there’s a good reason for the name.
“Probably because of Pittsburgh, you know,” he said. “A lot of ethnic groups, a lot of religions, a lot of churches and a lot of love.”
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