Ex-K.C. Chief From Simsbury Talks Super Bowl, Hall of Fame

SIMSBURY, CT — With National Football League excitement reaching a fever pitch during the playoffs leading up to next weekend's Super Bowl LIV, West Simsbury resident Barry Pearson, a participant in arguably the most memorable play in the league's 100-year history, has had plenty to cheer about in recent days.

With a 35-24 victory over Tennessee in the AFC championship game, the Kansas City Chiefs advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years. When the franchise won Super Bowl IV in 1970, Pearson was a 19-year-old who had just completed his first season as a wide receiver with the Northwestern University football team. He went undrafted following his senior year, and signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He spent his entire rookie season on the taxi squad (now called the practice squad), but was activated for the Steelers' first-round playoff game against Oakland due to an injury to starting receiver Frank Lewis. With Pittsburgh trailing 7-6 and facing 4th down and 10 on its own 40 yard line with 22 seconds remaining, a play was called for a pass to Pearson in an attempt to keep the team's hopes alive.

Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, under heavy pressure from two Raider linemen, was unable to execute the pass to Pearson as designed. Instead, he heaved the ball far downfield for Frenchy Fuqua, who was blasted by Oakland defender Jack Tatum. The ball caromed backward and was snagged just above the turf by Franco Harris, who ran down the left sideline into the end zone for an improbable 13-7 Steeler victory in a play dubbed "The Immaculate Reception."

Prior to the 1974 season, the Steelers assembled what is deemed the greatest rookie class in pro football history. They drafted Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster, and also signed undrafted free agent Donnie Shell. All five are now members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Shell elected last week as a member of the Centennial Class.

The acquisition of Swann and Stallworth made Pearson expendable, and he was traded to the Chiefs. In his first two seasons with Kansas City, he grabbed 63 passes for 995 yards and four touchdowns. However, he sustained a knee injury in the 1976 preseason which limited his mobility, and he retired following that year with career totals of 88 receptions for 1,319 yards and eight touchdowns, including a scoring reception in the 1973 playoffs.

As a former Chief, Pearson is naturally pulling for Kansas City in the big game Feb. 2 against the San Francisco 49ers, saying a Chiefs victory "would be good for the city."

"Both are good quality teams, so this should be a good one," Pearson said via phone Thursday. "[Chiefs quarterback Patrick] Mahomes is special; they rely on the man and he comes through. It's amazing how much zip he gets on the ball, and he's a leader, which they lacked for many years."

The previous weekend, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its Centennial Class, which included not only Shell, but former Cowboys and Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson. Prior to making his name at the University of Miami, Johnson's first head coaching job was in 1979 at Oklahoma State University, where his receivers coach was none other than Pearson.

"Jimmy was a really good guy and a very smart coach - he let his coaches coach, and he was good to work for," Pearson said.

Affiliation with Hall of Famers is nothing new for Pearson. He played for Hall of Fame coaches Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh and Hank Stram in Kansas City, and lined up alongside a dozen more legends during his playing career: Bradshaw, Harris, Joe Greene, Jack Ham and Mel Blount with the Steelers, and Chiefs stalwarts Len Dawson, Buck Buchanan, Curley Culp, Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, Emmitt Thomas and Jan Stenerud.

After a year of college coaching, and an unsuccessful interview for an assistant's job with the Detroit Lions, changes in Pearson's family life prompted a change of career. He and his family relocated to Connecticut, where he began working at HPC Food Service in South Windsor. He retired as president/CEO in 2015 after 35 years, and now divides his time between Connecticut and Florida.