He earned All-State honors at William L. Dickinson High School as both a guard for the football team and a catcher for baseball.

He played guard and tackle for the legendary "Seven Blocks of Granite," coached by the Sleepy Jim Crowley, one of the famed Four Horsemen of Notre Dame.

Franco had a brief professional career: He was a fifth-round selection (31st overall) of the Cleveland Rams in the 1938 NFL draft, but didn't stay with the team.

[2] Franco worked as the eastern scout for the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins along with coach and close friend Lombardi.

On October 24, 2008, Fordham University honored the memory of its legendary defensive line by dedicating a monument on its Rose Hill campus.