A sort out by James Harrison throughout a Pittsburgh Steelers recreation 20 years in the past didn’t simply finish a fan’s sprint onto the sphere — it helped begin him on a path to sobriety.
On Dec. 24, 2005, Harrison body-slammed a Browns fan throughout Pittsburgh’s 41-0 win in Cleveland. That fan — Nathan Mallett, then 24 — had run onto the sphere late within the recreation, disrupting play and drawing the wrath of Harrison, then a special-teams demon and backup linebacker.
Twenty years after that occasion, Harrison and Mallett reminisced in regards to the incident, which obtained nationwide consideration on the time, throughout a current dinner within the Pittsburgh space. Pittsburgh Submit-Gazette reporter Noah Hiles chronicled the reunion.
“I’m fairly pumped we had been ready to do that,” Mallett advised Harrison. “I simply need to say thanks, as a result of I feel you slammed some sense into me.”
Mallett admitted he had been consuming closely earlier than the sport, which fell on his birthday. He stated thanks, partly, to Harrison’s sort out, he has now been sober for 16 years.
“After I slammed you, you sort of didn’t know what the hell was occurring,” Harrison stated. “You appeared round and appeared up at me. You had been like, ‘Oh yeah, I obtained your [butt] now.’ ”
After the sort out, Harrison held Mallett till the arrival of police, who handcuffed Mallett and hauled him to jail.
“I did not need to harm him. I simply wished to maintain him down till the correct authorities got here,” Harrison advised reporters in 2005.
Mallett later was sentenced to spend Tremendous Bowl weekend in jail.
“There’s nothing I can say besides I hate shedding to the Steelers,” he stated on the time.
Harrison put collectively a Corridor of Fame-caliber profession, which included a 100-yard pick-six in in a 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals in Tremendous Bowl XLIII.
However his most memorable sort out, maybe a life saver, didn’t depend among the many 583 solo tackles he notched throughout a 15-year NFL profession.
Mallett, a self-employed painter, is married with one baby.
“[You’re] blessed,” Harrison advised Mallett on the dinner.
In Week 17 on Sunday, the Browns (3-12) host the Steelers (9-6), who might clinch the AFC North with a loss or tie by the Ravens towards Inexperienced Bay on Saturday night time.
