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A Pitt Legend has passed!

Isn't amazing how we all have fallen. All of the population now has migrated up in the north suburbs and out towards the southwestern part of the county (South Fayette, West A). It is funny, when we were in school, the powers were North Hills, Penn Hills, Gateway, Kiski, Plum, McKeesport, Mt. Lebo, USC. Back then, South Fayette, Pine-Richland (was just Richland), Mars, Seneca, West A were just cow schools.
The population has shifted to the South and West within our country as well. People have options nowadays, and a lot of people are taking advantage of new opportunities. There is no reason to live like a man in a box when you don’t have to.
 
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Still remember the photo of Jackie Sherrill being the guest speaker at a dinner honoring some all-star HS athletes, including Bill. As the photographer took the picture, Jackie reached out and grabbed Bill by the shoulder, as if to say “This is the guy I really want!” He got him, too.

I first met him when he had a summer job parking cars at a country club in Verona. Tom Flynn also had a summer job there. Bill was a great guy. After he got drafted by Atlanta, I didn’t see him again until he had retired and we were playing N.C. State in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando. He had lost a lot of weight after retiring, and looked great. Didn’t see him again until a Pitt event a couple of years ago. He had lost more weight and this time it didn’t look voluntary. I suspected he had something serious.

It shows how fragile life is. Here is a guy who was tougher than anyone else; who could throw around defensive linemen like they were rag dolls. A guy who as a freshman played against a heralded All-American DL from ND and dominated him so badly that I suspect in the 4th Quarter the DL was crying for his mother. A guy who was an All-Pro from the day he first suited up for the Falcons. And, to cancer, he was just another victim.
 
It sucked, my alma mater (Highlands) had some pretty damn good teams in that era, but we were stuck in the same conference as Penn Hills, Central and Gateway.

Think about it.......you had 3 straight years a #1 draft pick came out of that 8 team, WPIAL AAA (I think it was West Penn?) Conference in Marino, Fralic and Buczkowski from Gateway. There are literally 1000's of HS football conferences.....how strong was that conference back then? Even Plum and McKeesport were good.
Bill was a great player and a pillar of strength representing the Pitt football program. He will be missed.

Additionally, I remember discussing in a thread a little while back about the lack of talent in the Alle-Kiski Valley. While Marino and Fralic were generational talents who didn't come from the AK valley, they were not from too far away. Bob Buczkowski was also a pretty damn good player. It is kind of a reminder of how good this entire area once was at producing high level players. The way this area is producing players now, in the future we will have no hometown heroes like Bill Fralic to stoke memories of a wonderful past.
 
So many great lineman went through Pitt..79 was one of the best. Growing up in Iowa and knowing who Bill Fralic was back then says something about how great he was. RIP #79
 
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Incredibly sad for someone so young to pass soon. Just another reminder that life is short and can change in a blink of the eye.
 
He was in Wrestlemania.

I remember that. Peter Taglianetti was involved in the WWF as well. He was one of the participants who could not bodyslam Yokozuna in the open challenge. The WWWF/E have a long standing association with Pittsburgh because of Bruno, the doctors now and others through the years.
 
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Being too young to remember his play at Pitt my favorite memory is from the late 90's early 2000's at a Dapper Dan banquet. I remember hearing the story from a friend who was there and a write up in the PG when it happened only with less detail then my friend gave. PSU just beat Pitt in the renewed series and Duquesne HC Greg Gatusso was on stand saying to the affect that PSU is dropping Pitt from schedule and adding Duquesne to strengthen PSU's schedule with the crowd laughing except Walt Harris and others in the Pitt contingent. Not sure why he was there let alone addressing the audience, but Fralic gets up and states "its nice to see so many old faces, even you Greg. Hell Greg you were almost in my college highlight tape as much as I was, the Pro Scouts loved it"

My friend stated the place total silent before total hysterical laughter from eveyone outside the PSU crowd. He said it was almost like a scene in a movie. Gutuso and Paterno were all fired up from that comment but nothing could be said because Bill was the man
 
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Being too young to remember his play at Pitt my favorite memory is from the late 90's early 2000's at a Dapper Dan banquet. I remember hearing the story from a friend who was there and a write up in the PSU when it happened only with less detail then my friend gave. PSU just beat Pitt in the renewed series and Duquesne HC Greg Gatusso was on stand saying to the affect that PSU is dropping Pitt from schedule and adding Duquesne to strengthen PSU's schedule with the crowd laughing except Walt Harris and others in the Pitt contingent. Not sure why he was there let alone addressing the audience, but Fralic gets up and states "its nice to see so many old faces, even you Greg. Hell Greg you were almost in my college highlight tape as much as I was, the Pro Scouts loved it"

My friend stated the place total silent before total hysterical laughter from eveyone outside the PSU crowd. He said it was almost like a scene in a movie. Gutuso and Paterno were all fired up from that comment but nothing could be said because Bill was the man

That’s freaking hilarious. Thanks for sharing
 
This is terrible news. In the 1990s, Bill would work out at the Racquet Club in Monroeville. I was really into lifting then and I would work out when Bill did. He couldn't have been more encouraging, giving me tips on lifting, encouraging me, spotting me. HE WAS AN ABSOLUTE BEAST LIFTING. A great man has passed!
 
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We drove 50 miles to see him start his first game in HS. That’s right, he was talked about and written about like nobody save for maybe Marino in the pre -social net days.

One of the greatest college offensive linemen ever...
 
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Didn’t know much about him as a man and a human being away from football. Since his passing I’ve become incredibly impressed with the fact that as good as he was on the field he was even a bigger legend off it. Well done Bill. A life well lived for sure
 
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We drove 50 miles to see him start his first game in HS. That’s right, he was talked about and written about like nobody save for maybe Marino in the pre -social net days.

One of the greatest college offensive linemen ever...
Yeah people didn't realize, they sold out HS stadiums....to watch.....a friggin lineman!
 
I’m shocked! Wasnt he just at the Wake Forest game with Dan Marino? Regardless 56 is way too young. What a legend RIP
 
I remember meeting Fralic in Peter's Pub after a Pitt spring game a few years after he retired.

He looked terrific, without the excess weight that linemen carry.

Lean, healthy.

I asked him...."how did you lose your playing weight"?

He answered "I make sure I walk....every day"

That was it.....walk......

So a couple years later at the doctor for a checkup and the doc tells me I am bordering on diabetes and i need to lose at least 20lbs.

So, i remembered my meeting with Fralic and started to walk. Every day in my neighborhood, a five mile jaunt.

I went back to my doc 6 months later and 30 lbs lighter, remembering the advice given by one of the greatest ever.
 
I remember meeting Fralic in Peter's Pub after a Pitt spring game a few years after he retired.

He looked terrific, without the excess weight that linemen carry.

Lean, healthy.

I asked him...."how did you lose your playing weight"?

He answered "I make sure I walk....every day"

That was it.....walk......

So a couple years later at the doctor for a checkup and the doc tells me I am bordering on diabetes and i need to lose at least 20lbs.

So, i remembered my meeting with Fralic and started to walk. Every day in my neighborhood, a five mile jaunt.

I went back to my doc 6 months later and 30 lbs lighter, remembering the advice given by one of the greatest ever.
without the excess weight that linemen carry... funny thing about Fralic is he never looked like he carried excess weight when he was a lineman..He weighed the same as others, but the dude was probably the leanest looking lineman I ever saw. Gutless, but in a good way.
 
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without the excess weight that linemen carry... funny thing about Fralic is he never looked like he carried excess weight when he was a lineman..He weighed the same as others, but the dude was probably the leanest looking lineman I ever saw. Gutless, but in a good way.
I watched the Wrestlemania II Battle Royal this weekend and yeah that dude was lean.

Would he even be on the o-line today? Or would he be a defensive end or even a tight end?
 
without the excess weight that linemen carry... funny thing about Fralic is he never looked like he carried excess weight when he was a lineman..He weighed the same as others, but the dude was probably the leanest looking lineman I ever saw. Gutless, but in a good way.

Yes

I agree. But even with his lean look in his playing days, the day I met Bill he had lost much weight on a good way.

Watching the film clips here you can see how amazingly athletic he was.
 
I remember wrestlemania with Jesse Ventura announcing

"Yea....I took a look at that big Bill Fralic,

He's a BEHEMOTH"!!!!!
 
Jimbo Covert was at the Wake game. Not Billy.

That's right thanks for the clarification! Such a sad story they should both be alive and healthy like Jim is.

And I will say this: Why isn't there more front page news on this? He was a multiple time pro bowler who died way to young!
 
That's right thanks for the clarification! Such a sad story they should both be alive and healthy like Jim is.

And I will say this: Why isn't there more front page news on this? He was a multiple time pro bowler who died way to young!
There was a lot. All the local newscasts. I watched the CBS NFL pregame show and they did a bit on Fralic even showing him with the I79 sign, all of the newspapers locally had front page stories on him.
 
The recruiting coordinator and OL coach of the U back then was a guy named Art Brodsky.

This was a time when the U was starting to roll under Schnellenberger.

In 84 the canes brought in a class that would lead to 1 if not 2 national championships.

And yet Brodsky, who recruited Fralic hard, was quoted later on as saying,

"I would have traded that whole recruiting class for Fralic"

He was that great.

Sleep well Big man.
Honestly I’ve had a little bit of a problem trying to come to terms with his passing. It was like a punch in the gut. Took the wind out of me a bit. I never met him. Didn’t know him, but he was a Pitt man to the core. Guess it made me consider my own mortality. Fact is no one’s getting out of here alive, but man, 56 is way way too young. We should remember what he was like after football. We may not have the coin to do what he did financially, but there is not one of us that can’t help or be a blessing to someone who has a need. He also loved Pitt enough to take SP to the woodshed on the air more than likely knowing it would cost him that gig. Hope he gets a shot at HOF someday.
 
Honestly I’ve had a little bit of a problem trying to come to terms with his passing. It was like a punch in the gut. Took the wind out of me a bit. I never met him. Didn’t know him, but he was a Pitt man to the core. Guess it made me consider my own mortality. Fact is no one’s getting out of here alive, but man, 56 is way way too young. We should remember what he was like after football. We may not have the coin to do what he did financially, but there is not one of us that can’t help or be a blessing to someone who has a need. He also loved Pitt enough to take SP to the woodshed on the air more than likely knowing it would cost him that gig. Hope he gets a shot at HOF someday.


Yeah I felt the same way. Someone so big and strong you feel is immune to that in some way.
 
Honestly I’ve had a little bit of a problem trying to come to terms with his passing. It was like a punch in the gut. Took the wind out of me a bit. I never met him. Didn’t know him, but he was a Pitt man to the core. Guess it made me consider my own mortality. Fact is no one’s getting out of here alive, but man, 56 is way way too young. We should remember what he was like after football. We may not have the coin to do what he did financially, but there is not one of us that can’t help or be a blessing to someone who has a need. He also loved Pitt enough to take SP to the woodshed on the air more than likely knowing it would cost him that gig. Hope he gets a shot at HOF someday.

Man this is a great post.
 
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