Terry Hanratty recovering from COVID-19

Former Notre Dame and NFL quarterback Terry Hanratty opened up for the first time about his battle with the coronavirus.

Known for his epic wins on the football field, Hanratty, 72, was about to enter the biggest fight for his life off of it.

“We started to narrow it down to March 24th," Hanratty said.

Hanratty led the Irish to a National Championship in 1966 and was part of 2 Super Bowl titles with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He resides full time in Connecticut just 40 minutes from mid-town Manhattan, the epicenter of the coronavirus in the US.

Just one day after receiving a routine B-12 shot from his doctor, Hanratty felt the symptoms coming on.

“I waited a day. Next day I felt worse. I started getting temperature and you get the stomach ache and the headache. Then you wait another day and you think is this something big?” Hanratty said.

Fearing the worst, he went back to his doctor where he tested positive for COVID-19.

Hoping to fight it off with medication Hanratty was first sent home.

“I called my doctor and she said meet me outside her office building. I’ll come out to your car and I want to take your oxygen level. It was so low, plus the temperature, she said ‘You’re going to the hospital now.’ She called the ambulance and it came right to her parking lot," Hanratty said.

After spending six days in the hospital he was transferred home in an ambulance.

Weakened by the virus he needed to be carried up the stairs where he spent two weeks in quarantine - aided by oxygen.

“Probably the biggest factor of them all was my daughter Erin got me to quit smoking three years ago. So had I still been smoking, I probably would not have been able to fight off the corona. I had a bout of double pneumonia plus corona. You know I got my money’s worth," Hanratty said.

A Heisman runner up, National Champion, 2-time Super Bowl champ, and now coronavirus survivor.

“You can’t kill this thing with an atomic bomb. This is a virus. And it’s out there spreading like wildfire. And you really have to be careful. I love that we are flattening the curve. It’s a great sign, but I don’t want people to think we are through this. We can get caught up on the back side you really have to keep your guard up. Just have to stay the course," Hanratty said.

Hanratty says he was just allowed out of quarantine and now wears a mask all day as a precaution.

He says even when the overall stay at home order is lifted he will be wary of large crowds and gatherings.