Terry Bradshaw

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{{NFL player

  |Image=Terry_Bradshaw.jpg
  |DateOfBirth=September 2, 1948
  |Birthplace=Shreveport, Louisiana
  |Position=QB
  |College=Louisiana Tech
  |DraftedYear=1970
  |DraftedRound=1
  |Awards=1978 NFL MVP
  |Honors=NFL 1970s All-Decade Team
  |Records=
  |Retired #s=
  |PFR=BradTe00
  |DatabaseFootball=BRADSTER01
  |years=1970–1983
  |teams=Pittsburgh Steelers
  |ProBowls=1975, 1978, 1979
  |HOF=1989

}} Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is a former American football quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). He is a currently football analyst and co-host of FOX NFL Sunday, a speaker against depression and has recently taken up film acting. In a six-year span, he won an unprecedented four Super Bowl titles with Pittsburgh (1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980), becoming the first quarterback to do so, and led the Steelers to eight AFC Central championships. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989 in his first year of eligibility. A tough competitor, Bradshaw had a powerful, but erratic throwing arm and called his own plays throughout his pro career and is often compared to current Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for his toughness. His physical skills and on-the-field leadership played a major role in Pittsburgh sports history. Bradshaw also excelled in big games. During his career, he passed for more than 300 yards in a game only seven times, but three of those performances came in post-season play, two of them in Super Bowls. In four career Super Bowls he passed for an impressive 932 yards and 9 touchdowns. In 19 postseason games he completed 261 passes for 3,833 yards.

1 High school and college
2 NFL career
3 After retiring
4 Personal life
5 A short-lived return to football
6 Passing stats
7 Web references
8 External links

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High school and college

Bradshaw was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He attended Woodlawn High School there, and set a national record for throwing the javelin.

He was a student at Louisiana Tech where in 1969 he was considered by most pro scouts to be the most outstanding college football player. As a junior, he amassed 2,890 total yards, ranking #1 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 only played 10 games that year, and he was taken out of several games in the second half because his team had built up a huge lead. He is also a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity before being the first player selected in the 1970 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 1996, Bradshaw was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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NFL career

Bradshaw became a starter one year after he was drafted in 1971. During his first several seasons, the 6'3" (190 cm), 215 lb. (97 kg) quarterback was erratic, threw many interceptions (he threw 210 interceptions over the course of his career) and was widely ridiculed by the media for his rural roots and perceived lack of intelligence.

It took Bradshaw a few seasons to adjust to the pro game but once he did, he eventually became the premier quarterback in the NFL, leading the Steelers to eight AFC Central championships and an unprecedented collection of Super Bowl rings. The Steelers featured the "Steel Curtain" defense and a powerful running attack led by Franco Harris, but Bradshaw's strong arm gave them the threat of the deep pass, helping to loosen opposing defenses. In 1972, he threw the pass leading to the "Immaculate Reception", perhaps the most famous play in NFL history.

Bradshaw temporarily lost the starting job to Joe Gilliam in 1974, but Bradshaw took over again during the regular season and 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 64-yard touchdown pass to Swann -- released a split-second before defensive tackle Larry Cole flattened him, causing a serious concussion -- late in the fourth quarter is considered one of the greatest passes in NFL history.

Bradshaw had his finest season in 1978 when he was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player 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.

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 Most Valuable Player award, completing 17 of 30 passes for a then-record 318 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-31 win. Years later, Henderson, who struggled for years to conquer drug addiction, admitted he was high on cocaine at the time of the interview. Bradshaw has in later years made light of the ridicule with quips such as "it's football, not rocket science."

Bradshaw won his second straight Super Bowl MVP in 1979 in Super Bowl XIV. He passed for 309 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 31-19 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Bradshaw also shared the Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsmen of the Year" award with Willie Stargell that season.

In his 14-season career, Bradshaw completed 2,025 of 3,901 passes for 27,989 yards and 212 touchdowns. He also rushed 444 times for 2,257 yards and 32 touchdowns. He was also selected to play in three Pro Bowl games.

While the Steelers do not officially retire numbers, Bradshaw's #12 has not been issued by the team since he retired, and it is generally understood that no Steeler will ever wear that number again.

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After retiring

Image:Uso-show-terry-bradshaw-pentagon-gov.jpg

Bradshaw retired from football in 1983, and quickly signed a television contract with CBS to become NFL game analyst in 1984 where he and play-to-play announcer Verne Lundquist had the top rated programs. Prior to his full-time work for them, he served as a guest commentator for CBS Sports' NFC postseason broadcasts from 1980-82. Bradshaw was promoted into television studio analyst for The NFL Today in 1990, and FOX NFL Sunday, where he normally acts as a comic foil to his co-hosts. On FOX NFL Sunday he hosts two semi-regular features, "Ten Yards with TB," where he fires random questions at an NFL pro, and "The Terry Awards," an annual comedic award show about the NFL season.

He has appeared in numerous television commercials, including a 2004 Radio Shack ad. Bradshaw also had cameo appearances in many shows, including Married... with Children, and hosted a short-lived television series in 1997 called "Home Team with Terry Bradshaw". In addition to his television work, Bradshaw has appeared in several movies, including a part in the 1978 film Hooper which starred Burt Reynolds, Jan-Michael Vincent, Sally Field and 1981's appearance in Cannonball Run. He has also written or co-written five books and recorded six albums of country/western and gospel music. In July of 1997, Bradshaw served as the presenter when the late Mike Webster, his center on the Steelers' four Super Bowl title teams, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In November of 2005, Bradshaw announced that he and a group of investors from Louisiana were interested in buying the New Orleans Saints. The Saints, who had been forced out of the Louisiana Superdome for the 2005 season by Hurricane Katrina, were operating out of San Antonio, Texas, and had to play most of their 2005 home games at the Alamodome there and at LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. Several actions and statements by Saints owner Tom Benson and several San Antonio and Texas officials fueled speculation that Benson wanted to move the team to San Antonio permanently. While the NFL opposed a move to San Antonio, there were rumors that they may allow the team to move to Los Angeles, which has been without an NFL team since 1995. Bradshaw, a Louisiana native, said that he did not want his home state to lose the Saints because of Katrina, and was willing to purchase the team to see to it that that would not happen. However, his plans fell through as Benson was unwilling to sell the team.

In 2006, Bradshaw returned to the silver screen in the motion picture Failure to Launch. He and Kathy Bates played the parents of Matthew McConaughey's character. In one notable scene he appeared nude, a move which Jay Leno spent an entire segment mocking during an appearance on The Tonight Show.

Recently, Bradshaw didn't show up to a pregame celebration for past Super Bowl MVP's during Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan. According to reports, Bradshaw and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana requested a $100,000 guarantee for their appearance in the Super Bowl MVP Parade, and associated appearances. The NFL could not guarantee that they would make that much and refused. A representative for Bradshaw has since denied this report. After an appearance on The Tonight Show (February 6, 2006) Bradshaw stated that the reason why he did not attend the MVP parade was because he was spending time with family, that he hates the crowds and the Super Bowl media circus, and also that the only way he would attend a Super Bowl is when Fox is broadcasting the game. Bradshaw also stated that money was not an issue.

In April 2006, Bradshaw donated his four Super Bowl rings, College Football Hall of Fame ring, Pro Football Hall of Fame ring, Hall of Fame bust, four miniature replica Super Bowl trophies, and a helmet and jersey from one of his Super Bowl victories to his alma mater, Louisiana Tech.

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Personal life

Bradshaw has been married three times. He was married to Melissa Babich from 1972-73, to ice skater JoJo Starbuck from 1976-83, and to Charlotte Hopkins from 1983-99, who is the mother of his two daughters, Rachael and Erin, All three of Bradshaw's marriages have ended in divorce, a subject he ridicules frequently on his pre-game show. For example, on October 2, 2005, he began a "Ten Yards with TB" piece on the Eagles' Jeremiah Trotter by discussing Trotter's ejection from a game prior to the kickoff and joking, "Nobody's been thrown out of a house that quickly since my last divorce."

Despite that recent self-deprecation, Bradshaw's divorces have affected him profoundly. After his NFL career ended, Bradshaw disclosed that he had frequently experienced anxiety attacks after games. The problem worsened in the late 1990s, after his third divorce, when, he said, he "could not bounce back" as he had after the previous divorces or after a bad game. In addition to anxiety attacks, his symptoms included weight loss, frequent crying, and sleeplessness. He was diagnosed with clinical depression. Since then he has taken Paxil regularly. He chose to speak out about his depression to overcome the stigma associated with it and to urge others to seek help.

Ironically, Bradshaw appeared on Jeff Foxworthy's short-lived Sitcom, "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" being a motivational speaker for people needed to change their life. Bill Engvall's character is affected by Bradshaw's character's speakings.

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A short-lived return to football

In 2006, Bradshaw signed a contract, as a "blatant publicity stunt," to become the fourth-string quarterback for the Daytona Beach Thunder of the American Indoor Football League. However, Bradshaw had to undergo back surgery and will miss the season.

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Passing stats

Year	Team	G	Att	Com	Pct	Yards	TD	Int	Rate
1970	Pittsburgh Steelers	13	218	83	38.1	1410	6	24	30.4
1971	Pittsburgh Steelers	14	373	203	54.4	2259	13	22	59.7
1972	Pittsburgh Steelers	14	308	147	47.7	1887	12	12	64.1
1973	Pittsburgh Steelers	10	180	89	49.4	1183	10	15	54.5
1974	Pittsburgh Steelers	8	148	67	45.3	785	7	8	55.2
1975	Pittsburgh Steelers	14	286	165	57.7	2055	18	9	88.0
1976	Pittsburgh Steelers	10	192	92	47.9	1177	10	9	65.4
1977	Pittsburgh Steelers	14	314	162	51.6	2523	17	19	71.4
1978	Pittsburgh Steelers	16	368	207	56.3	2915	28	20	84.7
1979	Pittsburgh Steelers	16	472	259	54.9	3724	26	25	77.0
1980	Pittsburgh Steelers	15	424	218	51.4	3339	24	22	75.0
1981	Pittsburgh Steelers	14	370	201	54.3	2887	22	14	83.9
1982	Pittsburgh Steelers	9	240	127	52.9	1768	17	11	81.4
1983	Pittsburgh Steelers	1	8	5	62.5	77	2	0	133.9
Career Totals		168	3901	2025	51.9	27989	212	210	70.9