Oh, my heart aches tonight.
A legendary alumnus of my alma mater, the incomparable Bill Fralic, passed away from cancer last last Thursday at the too, too young age of 56.
Pitt head coach Jackie Sherrill first saw Fralic at a golf club. Bug-eyed and mouth agape at this 6’3 and 1/2” 235 lb incredible hulk Jackie made a bee line for Fralic and asked him where he went to college. Bill was a ninth grader at the time.
This physical freak did not need to use steroids but he did.
And god damn those things I’m sure they contributed to his early killer cancer.
The stat “pancake block” was minted for specific application to Bill for he did not move defensive
lineman out of the way for his running backs, Bill “followed through” on his blocks and planted them in the turf. Barry Switzer, the great Oklahoma coach, describe Fralic in 1984:
“He is so dominant that if he knows he’s got a mismatch and most of them are mismatches he will use one hand to push the defender away and keep the other hand free to help the guard out. So, instead of using two hands to push ’em up the field like most people have to do, he one-arms a lot of ’em.”
This was Gil Brandt, the Dallas Cowboys director of player personnel on Fralic:
“[He] knocks those guys about six or seven yards downfield and then falls on top of them.”
Navy coach Gary Tranquill:
“[In one game the previous season, he] knocked over the linebacker, then knocked over the free safety, and then was standing up looking for someone else to knock down. When he pass blocks, nobody moves. He just stands there and knocks down anybody who comes near him.”
Fralic’s personality was every bit as outsized as his physique.
There will always be a large measure of #79 in every Pitt player and fan for Bill Fralic lived. My how he did live.
