Barry Pearson, the former Steelers player whose first career play came in one of the NFL’s most famous moments, died Aug. 16 at 76. He had been married to Linda for 54 years.
For readers looking up Barry Pearson now, the name connects to a play that has been replayed for generations. Pearson was on the field for the Immaculate Reception in the Steelers’ playoff win over the Raiders in 1972, and that famous sequence was his first career play. He was the player who brought the play in to Terry Bradshaw.
That was only part of a brief but memorable run. Pearson signed with the Steelers as a free agent in 1972 after starring at Northwestern, played two seasons with the Steelers and three with the Chiefs, and caught a 46-yard game-winning touchdown on Monday Night Football against Washington in 1973. He later led the Chiefs in receiving yards in 1975 with 608, a reminder that his career was more than one snapshot from January.
But the career that started with a historic break would not last long. A serious knee injury in 1976 forced Pearson to retire from football, cutting short a path that had already taken him from a free-agent arrival to a part of NFL lore. After football, he worked as a wide receivers coach for Jimmy Johnson at Oklahoma State, interviewed for a coaching position with the Lions, and later returned to his wife’s family business, where he built a successful business career.
He is survived by Linda, Jessica Pearson, Shawn Koupal, Devorah Pearson Gomez, Jeff Gomez, Parker, Jackson and Gia. The cause of his death was not disclosed, and that is now the final unanswered detail around a life that still sits inside one of the NFL’s most replayed moments.
