Terry Bradshaw

Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst and co-host of Fox NFL Sunday. Bradshaw is also an actor and recording artist, having participated in several television shows (mainly as himself) and films, most notably co-starring in the movie Failure to Launch, and releasing several country music albums.

Nicknamed the Blonde Bomber, he won four Super Bowls in a six-year period (1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979), becoming the first quarterback to win three and four Super Bowls, and led the Steelers to eight AFC Central championships. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year of eligibility, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bradshaw was known for being a tough competitor and having one of the most powerful arms in NFL history. His physical skills and on-the-field leadership played a major role in the Steelers' dynasty throughout the 1970s. During his career, he passed for more than 300 yards in a game seven times, but three of those performances came in the postseason (two of which were in Super Bowls). In four career Super Bowl appearances, he passed for 932 yards and nine touchdowns, both Super Bowl records at the time of his retirement. In 19 career postseason games, he completed 261 passes for 3,833 yards.

Early life

Bradshaw was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on September 2, 1948. His father, William Marvin "Bill" Bradshaw (1927–2014), a native of Sparta, Tennessee, was a veteran of the United States Navy, a former vice president of manufacturing of the Riley Beaird Company in Shreveport, and a Southern Baptist layman. His mother, Novis (née Gay; 1929–2023), was one of five children of Clifford and Lula Gay of Red River Parish, Louisiana. He has an older brother, Gary, and a younger brother, Craig.

In his early childhood, the family lived in Camanche, Iowa, where he set forth the goal to play professional football. When he was a teenager, Bradshaw returned with his family to Shreveport. There, he attended Woodlawn High School, played under assistant coach A. L. Williams, and led the Knights to the AAA state championship game in 1965, but lost 12–9 to the Sulphur Golden Tornadoes. While at Woodlawn, he set a national record for throwing the javelin at 245 feet (74.68 m); his exploits earned him a spot in the Sports Illustrated feature Faces in the Crowd. Bradshaw's successor as Woodlawn's starting quarterback was another future NFL standout, Joe Ferguson of the Buffalo Bills. Bradshaw's Steelers defeated Ferguson's Bills in a 1974 divisional playoff game.

College career

Bradshaw decided to attend Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, recruited in part by future Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson. He has much affinity for his alma mater, and is a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Initially, he was second on the depth chart at quarterback behind Phil Robertson, who later became famous as the inventor of the Duck Commander duck call and television personality on the A&E program Duck Dynasty.

When he arrived at Tech in 1966, Bradshaw caused a media frenzy because of his reputation as a football sensation from nearby Shreveport. Robertson was a year ahead of Bradshaw, and was the starter for two seasons in 1966 and 1967, and chose not to play in 1968. As Robertson put it: "I'm going for the ducks, you [Terry] can go for the bucks."

In 1969, Bradshaw was considered by most professional scouts to be the most outstanding college football player in the nation. As a junior during the 1968 season, he amassed 2,890 total yards, ranking number one in the NCAA, and led his team to a 9–2 record and a 33–13 win over Akron in the Rice Bowl. In his senior season, he gained 2,314 yards, ranking third in the NCAA, and led his team to an 8–2 record. His decrease in production was mainly because his team played only 10 games that year, and he was taken out of several games in the second half because his team had built up huge leads.

Bradshaw graduated owning virtually all Louisiana Tech passing records at the time. In 1970, Bradshaw received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 1984, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Louisiana Tech sports hall of fame. Four years later, he was inducted into the state of Louisiana's sports hall of fame.

College statistics

NFL career

Pittsburgh Steelers

In the 1970 NFL draft, Bradshaw was selected as the first overall pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who got the first pick in the draft after winning a coin flip tiebreaker with the Chicago Bears since the teams had identical 1–13 records in 1969. Bradshaw was hailed at the time as the consensus number-one pick.

Bradshaw became a starter in his second season after splitting time with Terry Hanratty in his rookie campaign. During his first few seasons, the 6'3", 215-pound quarterback was erratic and threw many interceptions (he threw 210 interceptions over the course of his career), and was mocked by the media for his rural roots and perceived lack of intelligence.

Bradshaw took several seasons to adjust to the NFL, but he eventually led the Steelers to eight AFC Central championships and four Super Bowl titles. The Pittsburgh Steelers featured the "Steel Curtain" defense and a powerful running attack led by Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier, but Bradshaw's strong arm gave them the threat of the deep pass, helping to loosen opposing defenses. In 1972, he threw the "Immaculate Reception" pass to Franco Harris, among the most famous plays in NFL history, to beat the Raiders in the AFC Divisional playoffs.

Bradshaw temporarily lost the starting job to Joe Gilliam in 1974, but he took over again during the regular season. In the 1974 AFC Championship Game against the Oakland Raiders, his fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Lynn Swann proved to be the winning score in a 24–13 victory. In the Steelers' 16–6 Super Bowl IX victory over the Minnesota Vikings that followed, Bradshaw completed 9 of 14 passes and his fourth-quarter touchdown pass put the game out of reach and helped take the Steelers to their first Super Bowl victory.

In Super Bowl X following the 1975 season, Bradshaw threw for 209 yards, most of them to Swann, as the Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 21–17. His late-fourth-quarter, 64-yard touchdown pass to Swann, released a split-second before defensive tackle Larry Cole flattened him, was selected by NFL Films as the "Greatest Throw of All Time".

Neck and wrist injuries in 1976 forced Bradshaw to miss four games. He was sharp in a 40–14 victory over the Baltimore Colts, completing 14 of 18 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns and achieving the highest-possible passer rating of 158.3. As of 2022, it is the only playoff game where the visiting quarterback achieved this effort. With this outstanding game, he was not only instrumental in Pittsburgh's blowout win but also potentially—and inadvertently—helped save the lives of scores of people from the impact of a plane crash which took place soon after the game ended as result of the butterfly effect. This is because the Colts were beaten so badly that their fans left much earlier than they would have, with their supporter zone being completely vacated by time of the impact. There were no serious injuries, and the pilot was arrested for violating air safety regulations. Donald Kroner was the 33-year-old pilot charged with reckless flying, littering, and making a bomb threat against former Baltimore Colts linebacker Bill Pellington. Pellington owned a bar and restaurant from which Kroner was once ejected for using foul language. The crash is the subject of the 2022 documentary Section 1 by Secret Base's Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein.

However, the Steelers' hopes of a three-peat ended when both of their 1,000-yard rushers (Harris and Bleier) were injured in the win over the Colts, and the Steelers subsequently lost to the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship game, 24–7. Jack Lambert asserted that the 1976 Steelers team was the best team that he ever played on, including the four Super Bowl teams of which he was a part.

Bradshaw had his best season in 1978 when he was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player (MVP) by the Associated Press after a season in which he completed 207 of 368 passes for 2,915 yards and a league-leading 28 touchdown passes. He was also named All-Pro and All-AFC that year, despite throwing 20 interceptions.

Before Super Bowl XIII, a Steelers-Cowboys rematch, Cowboys linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson famously ridiculed Bradshaw by saying, "He couldn't spell 'cat' if you spotted him the 'c' and the 'a'." Bradshaw got his revenge by winning the Super Bowl MVP award, completing 17 of 30 passes for a then-record 318 yards and four touchdowns in a 35–31 win. Bradshaw has in later years made light of the ridicule with quips such as "it's football, not rocket science."