Alternate footage of the Immaculate Reception

[Evan]

I recently read Peter Richmond's book "Badasses" and in the chapter on "The Immaculate Deception" he mentions that there was another view of the play from the end zone behind Bradshaw which NBC ran behind the credits at the end of the game.

San Francisco Examiner writer Frank Cooney videotaped the telecast and later reviewed NBC's footage by freezing the frames, saying it was clear that the ball hit Fuqua on the arm as Tatum hit him from behind.

Oakland Tribune writer Tom LaMarre supposedly saw Cooney's NBC tape and agreed that the ball flattens out on Fuqua's forearm.

To answer the question all of you have right now, Richmond writes that "that tape has been lost to history."

Anyone hear of this alternate camera angle before? What do you make of this story?

Also, I saw on Ebay an ad for a TV Guide ad in May 1973 for a program on Pittsburgh's WIIC-TV Channel Eleven called "The Steelers' Year" in which they relived the thrills of 1972, including Franco's miracle catch. Anyone know anything about that program (or remember seeing it)? And if so, did they have the alternate camera view?

Just wondering. Thanks!

[Hail Casares]

I recently read Peter Richmond's book "Badasses" and in the chapter on "The Immaculate Deception" he mentions that there was another view of the play from the end zone behind Bradshaw which NBC ran behind the credits at the end of the game.

San Francisco Examiner writer Frank Cooney videotaped the telecast and later reviewed NBC's footage by freezing the frames, saying it was clear that the ball hit Fuqua on the arm as Tatum hit him from behind.

Oakland Tribune writer Tom LaMarre supposedly saw Cooney's NBC tape and agreed that the ball flattens out on Fuqua's forearm.

To answer the question all of you have right now, Richmond writes that "that tape has been lost to history."

Anyone hear of this alternate camera angle before? What do you make of this story?

Also, I saw on Ebay an ad for a TV Guide ad in May 1973 for a program on Pittsburgh's WIIC-TV Channel Eleven called "The Steelers' Year" in which they relived the thrills of 1972, including Franco's miracle catch. Anyone know anything about that program (or remember seeing it)? And if so, did they have the alternate camera view?

Just wondering. Thanks!

NFL Network did a "Football Life" on the play a year or two ago I think. I believe that some physicist actually took a look at the play and said it was impossible that it hit a Steelers player given the path and velocity of the ball after the hit.

In 2004 John Fetkovich, an emeritus professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon University, analyzed the NFL Films clip of the play. He came to the conclusion, based on the trajectory of the bounced ball and conservation of momentum, that the ball must have bounced off Tatum, who was running upfield at the time, rather than Fuqua, who was running across and down the field.[28] Fetkovich also performed experiments by throwing a football against a brick wall at a velocity greater than 60 feet per second, twice the speed Fetkovich calculated that Bradshaw's pass was traveling when it reached Tatum and Fuqua. Fetkovitch achieved a maximum rebound of 10 feet when the ball hit point first, and 15 feet when the ball hit belly first, both less than the 24 feet that the ball actually rebounded during the play. Timothy Gay, a physics professor and a longtime Raiders fan,[29] cited Fetkovich's work with approval in his book The Physics of Football, and concluded that "the referees made the right call in the Immaculate Reception."[30]

[Bryan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMuUBZ_DAeM

This has a camera angle from the endzone behind Bradshaw...I don't know if its the 'correct' one, but I also don't know how the footage would be any different from a different endzone camera angle.

Edit: I'll have to check, but I think "The Steelers Year" was the name of the NFL Films highlight film of the 1972 Steelers.

[JohnR]

The problem w/ Fetkovich's conclusion (must have been Tatum's force therefore Tatum touched it), is that if Tatum's shoulder hitting the back of Frenchy's hand is simultaneous with the ball touching Frenchy's palm, the ball still travels backwards. A simultaneous hit renders Frenchy's palm not soft, but hard, giving it energy to propel it some distance. I say this w/ a clear mind and without any bitterness. Well, OK w/ a little bitterness, but not enough to cloud my judgement!

[MatthewToy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMuUBZ_DAeM

This has a camera angle from the endzone behind Bradshaw...I don't know if its the 'correct' one, but I also don't know how the footage would be any different from a different endzone camera angle.

Edit: I'll have to check, but I think "The Steelers Year" was the name of the NFL Films highlight film of the 1972 Steelers.

"The Steelers Year" is definitely the name of their 1972 highlight film. I know because I've watched it only a billion times. That end zone NBC view has to be the same one shown in the Football Life episode.

[Evan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMuUBZ_DAeM

This has a camera angle from the endzone behind Bradshaw...I don't know if its the 'correct' one, but I also don't know how the footage would be any different from a different endzone camera angle.

Edit: I'll have to check, but I think "The Steelers Year" was the name of the NFL Films highlight film of the 1972 Steelers.

"The Steelers Year" is definitely the name of their 1972 highlight film. I know because I've watched it only a billion times. That end zone NBC view has to be the same one shown in the Football Life episode.

Makes sense, thanks so much for clarifying. I was wondering if the WIIC show from 1973 I mentioned might have been a studio show of some kind with highlights thrown in, but now that makes sense that they would have run the NFL Films official highlight show. My first memories of NFL Films team highlights being shown on TV were on ESPN in the early 1980s, but I wasn't aware that "regular" TV stations would run them too. Good stuff, thanks for helping me learn something!

[BD Sullivan]

The fact that two writers from the Bay Area are (the ony ones?) making this claim immediately brings into question their credibility.

[MatthewToy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMuUBZ_DAeM

This has a camera angle from the endzone behind Bradshaw...I don't know if its the 'correct' one, but I also don't know how the footage would be any different from a different endzone camera angle.

Edit: I'll have to check, but I think "The Steelers Year" was the name of the NFL Films highlight film of the 1972 Steelers.

"The Steelers Year" is definitely the name of their 1972 highlight film. I know because I've watched it only a billion times. That end zone NBC view has to be the same one shown in the Football Life episode.

Makes sense, thanks so much for clarifying. I was wondering if the WIIC show from 1973 I mentioned might have been a studio show of some kind with highlights thrown in, but now that makes sense that they would have run the NFL Films official highlight show. My first memories of NFL Films team highlights being shown on TV were on ESPN in the early 1980s, but I wasn't aware that "regular" TV stations would run them too. Good stuff, thanks for helping me learn something!

Back in the mid 80s they'd run the previous year's highlights before the first preseason game.

[JohnR]

And where is Cooney's tape after all these years? If it's so definitive, odd that it hasn't surfaced.

[Citizen]

My first memories of NFL Films team highlights being shown on TV were on ESPN in the early 1980s, but I wasn't aware that "regular" TV stations would run them too.

Yes, that was the custom probably until 1981 or '82. A given team's highlights generally would be shown only on its market's TV stations. Before that, the highlight films were distributed mostly to fraternal organizations (Elks, Optimists, etc.) to be shown at their meetings in an effort to drum up ticket sales. Often those films weren't even televised, which is why some of the older team yearbook films sometimes ran much longer than the customary 22-24 minutes allotted for a half-hour TV slot.