He was so revered at Pitt that the school retired his No. He played in 132 NFL games, 131 as a starter.“I enjoyed being around him,” said David Archer, who was the Falcons’ quarterback during Fralic’s first three years with the team. He served on the 1991 Falcons team that finished the regular season 10-6 and went to the playoffs under coach Jerry Glanville. He leaves a wonderful legacy that goes well beyond football at Pitt, Penn Hills and all of Western Pennsylvania. He also became a WPIAL heavyweight wrestling champion for the Indians, compiling a 98-7 record on the mat.Fralic was a member of the inaugural Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame class that was enshrined in September.In 1989, he established Bill Fralic Insurance, which became a leader in specialized commercial trucking insurance. He would go on to be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998.A western Pennsylvania native, Fralic became the first sophomore to letter in football at Penn Hills High School. Fralic was joined by players Jimbo Covert and William "Refrigerator" Perry, Russ Francis, Ernie Holmes and Harvey Martin in a match featuring pro wrestling luminaries such as Bruno Sammartino, the Iron Sheik, Bret "Hitman" Hart, "Big" John Studd, who Fralic cut a promo against prior to the match, and eventual winner Andre The Giant. In May 1989 he testified before the U.S. Senate that steroid use in the NFL was rampant. “Bill was a cornerstone of the Falcons for eight seasons, while earning four Pro Bowl nods and two All-Pro selections. Former Falcons offensive lineman Bill Fralic, who played for the team from 1985-92, died Thursday following a battle with cancer, according to the University of Pittsburgh.After a storied career for the Pitt Panthers, the three-time All-American was drafted second overall in the 1985 draft by the Falcons.He started immediately at right guard and went to four Pro Bowls and was twice named to the All-Pro team.After 1992, he played one season with the Detroit Lions. Bill Fralic, a four-time Pro Bowl selection and College Football Hall of Fame member, died Thursday at age 56 after a battle with cancer. It’s a sad day for Pitt and Western Pennsylvania football fans with the news of the death of the great Bill Fralic. Fralic died at the age of 56 on December 13, 2018 from cancer. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, Sen.
Former NFL great Bill Fralic, one of the first players to speak openly about the pervasiveness of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, died … He loved to play little jokes on guys.”“He had a really cool sense of humor because he was one of those guys who could pull a joke on a guy, or get a guy in an awkward position and make fun of him in the locker room, and he wouldn’t give it away,” Archer said.
“I didn’t know he was battling through some stuff.”Falcons owner Arthur Blank issued this statement Friday afternoon:“On behalf of the Atlanta Falcons we would like to extend our condolences to all the family and friends of Bill Fralic,” he said. He was a beloved Falcon, and we will always be grateful for the impact he made here in Atlanta.”Fralic appreciated a good locker room prank and was a fine teammate.“From a teammate standpoint, he and I had many of beer together,” said Archer, who currently is the Falcons’ color analyst on radio. Pitt publicists used “Pancakes” as a statistical barometer for each time Fralic put an opposing defensive lineman on his back.Fralic additionally was named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.Fralic’s No. Money, however, was not the prime motivation, he indicated.“In Atlanta, the coaches always preached that we wanted to be tough on defense and intimidate people,” Fralic said at the time. Rest in peace Bill Fralic, great teammate but even better guy.
A block in which a lineman (or any offensive player) puts a defender on his back, pancakes became a statistic kept by Pitt publicists during his days with the In the NFL, Fralic played in 132 games, starting 131. Bill Fralic, a former Falcons first-round pick out of Pitt, has died at 56 after a battle with cancer.
Following a career at Pitt in which he was a two-time unanimous All-American, Fralic, a 6-foot-5, 280-pound offensive lineman known for his phenomenal run blocking, was taken with the No.
He leaves a wonderful legacy that goes well beyond football at Pitt, Penn Hills and all of Western Pennsylvania. “He had a great smile and a great laugh. Phil Krueger, who helped build a dominant defense as an assistant for 1967 national champion Southern California and later became part of the first coaching staff in Tampa Bay Buccaneers' history, has died.
Akin to NFL Hall of Famer Deacon Jones coining the phrase sack, but admittedly to much less fanfare, it was Fralic who was credited with the creation of the term pancake block in his days at Pitt.
The following browsers are supported: Chrome, Edge (v80 and later), Firefox and Safari. 79 jersey at halftime of his final home game. WILLIAM FRALIC passed away in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
"Bill Fralic was not only an all-time player at the University of Pittsburgh, but also an all-time human being," Pitt head football coach Pat Narduzzi said in a statement. But was also just an assassin on the field from a blocking standpoint and how he played with his demeanor.”Things to know about Bill Fralic Bill Fralic was an offensive lineman for the Atlanta Falcons between 1985 and 1992. Fralic made another appearance for the WWF in 1993 on the U.S.S.
“He was a good teammate.