- 2 days ago
Called stupid his first 25 years of life, figured out people were right, 4 titles, 2 Super Bowl MVPs, 1 MVP, very stupid......stupid accomplished
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Phelan is at the bottom of that pile!
00:03The island at the center for North!
00:05On the arm!
00:07North!
00:08The box at the floor!
00:10This is 298!
00:12The proper problem in the city!
00:14116,000!
00:16That's the big number!
00:18Hold it, hold it!
00:19Hold it!
00:22I'll scoop up the world!
00:24This is just gonna be the third home line game!
00:44Hello, I'm Chris Fowler, and welcome to Sports Century.
00:47Born and raised in the Bible Belt, where they still say sir and ma'am, Terry Bradshaw landed
00:52in Pittsburgh with all the innocence of a steer entering the slaughterhouse.
00:56He was hit with a prolonged siege of insults aimed at his origins and perceived stupidity,
01:02among them tags like dummy and rube.
01:07If John Elway, Montana, Marino, if they were my quarterbacks in college, the first thing
01:13they would say is, boy, that guy's great, boy, what kind of stats did he have?
01:17If I say now that I was Terry Bradshaw's receiver in college, the very first question people
01:22ask is, is he that stupid?
01:25Terry tells a story when, you know, everybody thinks I'm stupid, I don't know what I'm
01:29doing, they didn't know what I was doing, they didn't think I could spell cat, sure I could,
01:32it's spelled with a K.
01:33Terry Bradshaw, how in the world did your team manage to win over some of the predictions
01:39that a few years ago that you weren't so smart?
01:44Well, I guess they wanted to spite me, I don't know.
01:47If there's two ways to say something wrong, Terry will say it three ways.
01:52Now I've lost all my thoughts here.
01:56And you know, it doesn't take a lot for me to get distracted.
01:59Lewis and Clark couldn't find those thoughts.
02:02People might think that as dumb, where he's just acting silly, having fun.
02:07After all, perception gets to be greater than reality.
02:11Standing in bold contrast to Bradshaw's reputation as less than brilliant are the quarterback's
02:17accomplishments.
02:18He was just stupid enough to lead the Steelers to seven division titles and four Super Bowl
02:24victories.
02:25Yep.
02:28Bradshaw, deep for Swan.
02:30He has it.
02:31I don't know how Bradshaw got it all.
02:34He's been defined by winning championships.
02:36When you talk to Super Bowl MVPs too, so it's not like he was getting carried.
02:44About Terry Bradshaw's success, it isn't about great statistics, completion percentage.
02:50It's about winning those Super Bowl titles.
02:52They're not going to win those Super Bowls, no matter how good the defense was without Terry
02:57Bradshaw.
02:57And he gets in trouble but gets out of it and he finds.
03:00Oh, Cunningham.
03:02What an arm.
03:03I don't ever remember a guy throwing a ball like Terry.
03:06When Terry threw the football, you could hear a whistle.
03:09He could write for that rock.
03:10How did you ever do that?
03:11When that ball would get on that receiver, they better get their heads around because he
03:14was letting it go.
03:16He's one of the most athletic quarterbacks ever played the game.
03:19I mean, there was not a throw that Terry Bradshaw couldn't make.
03:23Can you believe this game?
03:25I can't believe that throw.
03:26It wouldn't matter whether that receiver was covered or whether the defense was shooting
03:30the right kind of defense, he just fired it in and boom, it was there.
03:35The weakness in his game was that sometimes he would throw in where it was double covered
03:39and couldn't make that play in there.
03:43Backed by one of the best defenses in NFL history, Bradshaw strode the field like a riverboat gambler,
03:49often airing out the ball into a net of defenders.
03:51The results were mixed.
03:53In his 14 years with the Steelers, he threw 212 touchdowns and 210 interceptions.
04:01It bored me to throw a short pass.
04:03I wanted to throw it deep.
04:04When you have an intimidating, dominating defense, it frees you up as a player offensively
04:10because you can be more aggressive.
04:13You can take more chances.
04:15They get a double coverage on Straughn.
04:17Bradshaw reads it.
04:19That still goes to him.
04:20As a receiver, it's nice to know the quarterback has that kind of confidence in you
04:24that he's going to go to you and give you a chance to make a catch.
04:27You take chances at that time, and that's how you make things happen.
04:31He sure made some big plays happen.
04:34Bradshaw's most memorable gamble occurred in the 1972 AFC Divisional Playoffs.
04:39Down 7-6 to the Raiders, he took the snap with 22 seconds left in the game.
04:44He's looking. He's in trouble back there.
04:46He looks. He throws deep.
04:48And it is.
04:50As the ball tumbled above the turf, it was snatched.
04:53Steelers running back, Frank O'Hara.
04:55The Immaculate Reception.
05:00The Steelers won 13-7.
05:02The play was forever known as the Immaculate Reception.
05:07You talk about McNair and McNair and Steve Young.
05:10He was just a good athlete of those guys with his mobility.
05:22Terry Bradshaw usually played, I guess, around 230 pounds.
05:26One year he played at 215, and when they clocked him in the 40, he was the fastest man on
05:33the team.
05:34I used to have extra practices with my defensive linemen just on hitting a bigger guy.
05:40Because most quarterbacks, I mean, you'd come up and go like that, and, you know, they'd go down looking out
05:45their ear hole and stuff.
05:46And with him, Bradshaw, you'd hit and you'd bounce off.
05:50He would wait and wait and wait and then release and then take the big hit.
05:54And he was so strong physically that he could handle that.
05:58Boy, this is a sign of a great quarterback.
06:00He knew he was going to get it.
06:03He went out there with her arms and collarbones and ribs, and he still stuck it out for the team.
06:11Good.
06:12You see a quarterback out there with a cast playing, I mean, you see a cast on one hand, you've
06:17got to take a snap.
06:18I mean, to me, that's just the desire to be out there and to lead your offense.
06:23Make big plays.
06:24Never give up.
06:25Scramble.
06:26Run hard.
06:27Three, four guys tackling.
06:28Those are the things that spurred his teammates.
06:32Terry would tell us, he said, you can lose with me, but you can't win without me.
06:36And he said it in a way that we understood.
06:39It was interesting to see him develop as a person, as a leader, from some insecure years in the beginning.
06:48If the roots of Bradshaw's insecurities showed in his early years in the NFL,
06:53they ran deep into the southern soil of his childhood and extended beyond his gridiron glory.
07:01About every weekend, we gathered up at my grandparents' house in Hall Summit, Louisiana, a little 40-acre farm,
07:07and we fished in all the local ponds and built kites, you know, milk cows.
07:14It was great country life.
07:16It was just all family.
07:17Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on September 2, 1948, Terry was the second of three brothers.
07:24Terry's parents are very much at the core of his life.
07:30They are and have been extraordinarily supportive parents in whatever he's done.
07:36He and his mother have always been really close.
07:39His mother is a very affectionate mother.
07:43She's a very demonstrative person.
07:44She's a hugger.
07:45She's a kisser.
07:47Bradshaw's father was as hard as his mother was soft.
07:51He was a disciplinarian.
07:53Nobody ever got out of line.
07:54Whatever he said, everybody did.
07:56All the boys were afraid of him, but they respected him.
07:59My dad wasn't a loving guy.
08:01Not an affectionate guy.
08:03He was tough, tough, tough.
08:08Terry was fortunate to have grown up with someone who insisted on the kind of discipline
08:14that his father insisted on because Terry was a wild child, and his father forced him to focus.
08:24Terry was very mischievous at times, and he was my troublemaker.
08:32I let Terry drive home one Sunday from church.
08:35He goes in my drive on two wheels.
08:38I'm afraid he's going through my den.
08:43Despite his father's efforts to make him focus, Bradshaw's attention wandered in the classroom,
08:48where he struggled for seeds at Woodlawn High School.
08:51I saw him many times glancing from the window.
08:56He could see the practice field.
08:59There were times when I knew he was not thinking about friends, Romans, countrymen,
09:05but he was thinking about the first play they were going to start with.
09:09When we would cram for a test at night, like the night before a test,
09:14he couldn't sit down more than an hour.
09:17All his teachers told my wife and I that he could be a nice student, you know,
09:22if he'd apply himself.
09:23Would you like school if you couldn't remember anything?
09:26Everybody else got it.
09:28How come I didn't get it?
09:29It's embarrassing.
09:30Nowadays, you know, you get tested.
09:33But when I was growing up, he's a hyper boy.
09:39Terry's a bundle of nerves.
09:41He's always full of energy and had to be doing something.
09:45And he couldn't sleep, so he'd take that football and throwing it up, catching it.
09:49I'd throw that ball up and watching it spiral.
09:52And I'd hit the ceiling.
09:53Thunk.
09:55Thunk.
09:56And my dad'd be in there trying to sleep.
09:58Turn.
09:59Sir.
10:00Keep me down in there.
10:01Yes, sir.
10:01And wait till you hear him snore.
10:03Thunk.
10:14Thunk.
10:16Bradshaw's enthusiasm and strong arm earned him a spot on the varsity as a sophomore.
10:20But for two seasons, he stood on the sidelines.
10:24One of the first times that he got to play, we had this team pretty well beat.
10:29And I asked Terry to go in there and just, you know, keep it on the ground, you know.
10:36And Terry fakes off tight and throws on their blue darters about 50 yards down there for a touchdown.
10:44Given the ball as a senior in 1965, Bradshaw led Woodlawn to the state finals.
10:50He gained even wider recognition by throwing the javelin for a national high school record of 224 feet, 11 1⁄2
10:57inches.
10:59You could get a good indication there.
11:01Here's a guy that's got a great arm and he's going places.
11:04Detroit tried to recruit him to play baseball.
11:07And we weren't interested.
11:11Football was it.
11:14Although Bradshaw's preference was Louisiana Tech, he signed a letter of intent to attend LSU.
11:20The fallout was swift and painful.
11:23I remember he called one Saturday morning and told me that he had signed a letter of intent with LSU.
11:28And I was surprised because I thought he was going to Tech.
11:32Why?
11:33I broke up with him.
11:35I felt pressured to sign with LSU because of a good friend of mine.
11:39And I just wanted to make him happy.
11:41After I had signed with LSU, I didn't know how to get out of it.
11:48He said, I think I'm going to try to fail the SAT.
11:53And I said, that's going to be bad.
11:55And he said, what else do I do?
11:57I can't break my word.
11:58He didn't want to hurt anybody.
12:00I don't think he intentionally failed the ACT.
12:02I think he was just confused.
12:04I don't think he studied for it.
12:08Intentionally or not, Bradshaw failed the entry exam to LSU and ended up at Louisiana Tech.
12:14As a junior and senior, Bradshaw lit up the Gulf States Conference.
12:19Passing for more than 5,200 yards, he earned back-to-back Division II All-American honors.
12:25All of a sudden, a few scouts would trickle in.
12:27And our senior year, we had scouts at every game, tons of them.
12:30And they could see his potential.
12:32I was the coach and the senior, I believe, is arm strength.
12:35And I let the scouts from all of the teams come right out onto the field,
12:40listen in to Terry calling the plays in a huddle,
12:42and then watching him throw the deep ball.
12:45Just an amazing arm.
12:47Although Pittsburgh drafted All-American quarterback Terry Hanratty the previous year,
12:51the 1-13 Steelers turned down 18 offers for the top pick in 1970 when they selected Bradshaw.
12:58The kid with the golden arm arrived in Steeltown and made a prediction that proved ill-advised.
13:05He told everybody he was going to lead the Steelers for the Super Bowl,
13:07and then the next year when he actually had to start playing, you know, it wasn't all a bed of
13:12roses.
13:13I was in attendance at his first press conference.
13:16At Pittsburgh.
13:17And I saw right away that guys from the East Coast were going to eat him alive.
13:24Terry Bradshaw inherited a team with a dismal history.
13:27In their 37 years, the Steelers had managed just eight winning seasons
13:31and had never won a division title.
13:34There was so much pressure.
13:36Well, Terry Bradshaw didn't lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl,
13:41but he made up four by leading them to four.
13:47Because he's another one choice, and we were a team that had been so bad for so many years,
13:52and we were just dying for a quarterback to come in and save us.
13:56He tried to, you know, turn the entire program around individually in one year,
14:01and it's not going to happen.
14:03You're talking about baptism by fire.
14:06He had never seen the defenses that the NFL threw at him when he came in.
14:11He was indecisive, and he would call things and then change his mind.
14:15He got back to the pocket, you know, didn't wait his three seconds to let the play develop,
14:20and either try to force it in there real fast or, you know, try to run the ball.
14:25He would really get wired, you know, and if you get wired, it gets in your way.
14:31This was a question of maturing and settling down.
14:34He was so uptight, a very hyper guy, and we had to hypnotize him a night before the game.
14:41And we did that about three games so he could relax.
14:44Lou Rickey gave me three buzzwords.
14:47Relax, confidence, concentrate.
14:52Terry's unwillingness to really focus as well as he could have on the defenses and what he's going to see
15:00probably delayed his progress.
15:03I never have liked to study, never.
15:06I've always done everything by the seat of my pants.
15:08NFL is a very regimented profession where you just smudge.
15:15And I just slide down.
15:17The meeting, you would come in and miss part of that meeting and could not have that.
15:23If you're going to be a professional football player, you've got to dedicate yourself to it.
15:31From 1970 through 1973, Bradshaw could not find a rhythm.
15:36He threw 41 touchdowns and 73 interceptions.
15:40That's terrible.
15:41Bradshaw firing.
15:42Forget it.
15:42Dick Anderson is third interception.
15:45Touchdown.
15:47Impatient with Bradshaw's lack of progress, many Steeler fans called for his backup.
15:54Bradshaw had been drafted a year after Hanran.
15:57Hanran was the All-American, you know, the Notre Dame guy.
16:01Pittsburgh loved him.
16:03He was a local boy, played up at Butler just north of here.
16:06There was a lot of verbal abuse that Terry took and a lot of abuse that he took in the
16:11papers.
16:12It was almost like the Civil War was still going on between a southern guy and the northerners
16:17who were here and they were calling Terry dumb.
16:20He was a very sincere guy.
16:22People have the tendency to believe if you're sincere, you must be dumb.
16:25He'd be so totally open and say things that most athletes would guard or not say.
16:29And all of a sudden, I realized that that's when people kind of started taking advantage
16:34of him.
16:35We're talking about Bradshaw all week long.
16:37The writers wanted to know his grades in high school and grades in college.
16:42It pissed me off.
16:43I use that kind of language.
16:45But it chapped my royal ass that someone could think I was stupid.
16:49You know, Rocky Blyer said he will.
16:51He changed the plays in the huddle.
16:53Uh, let's run.
16:55Okay, fine.
16:55No, no, we'll run.
16:57Yeah, full right.
16:57No, no, no, full right.
16:58No.
16:59Okay, fine.
16:59We'll run this play.
17:01And another thing.
17:02Why didn't someone come to my defense?
17:04How did he want us to stand up?
17:07You know, carry posters around Terry's not dumb.
17:10We knew he wasn't dumb.
17:11That was enough for us.
17:12If I had to do it over again, I would be much more supportive of Terry.
17:15I was more or less teasing him about his making dumb decisions or whatever, and I shouldn't
17:20have done that.
17:23He told me...
17:26Mr. Bradshaw.
17:27And he turned around and this little kid said, you stick.
17:30And he said, I wanted to throw the ball, just hit him right between the eyes.
17:34They cheered when he was hurt.
17:37To cheer a person when they get hurt, I think it was one of the worst things.
17:42That an athlete can have happen.
17:44It wasn't the entire 48,000 people that were in the stand.
17:47It was probably maybe 500 or 1,000, but it sounded like everyone.
17:51I couldn't imagine that many people didn't like me.
17:56I think there's a part of me that always wanted everybody to love me.
17:59It affected the way I played.
18:01It scared me, made me nervous.
18:04Not everybody is going to like you, and you have to come to grips with that.
18:07The situation was so bad for him that his mother actually came to Pittsburgh and moved
18:15into his apartment and lived with him.
18:17Terry and his mother went to a hockey game in Pittsburgh.
18:20And they had invited Terry down to hit the puck on the ice.
18:26And they booed him.
18:28And they booed him until they went out the door.
18:31Terry's always tried to be a people pleaser.
18:35And to have people turn on him and embarrass him in front of his family hurt him a lot.
18:43The happy little lucky guy was gone.
18:46It was, uh, everything was serious.
18:49After a game, you would go out and you gave there always be fans out there.
18:52You sign the autographs.
18:53And you can see Terry starting to duck out the back way.
18:56That's not the way you endear yourself to people.
18:58Because then they said, now you don't want to be part of their family.
19:02I hated that place as much as they hated me.
19:05I couldn't stand my coach, and I didn't like those fans, and I didn't like Pittsburgh.
19:10And that was all because I couldn't emotionally deal with failing.
19:19In 1974, head coach Chuck Knoll inserted Joe Gilliam as his starting quarterback.
19:25I just went home with this broke-down cry.
19:27How could I be such a failure when I love something so much
19:30and had spent my entire life to get to that point?
19:35I mean, I felt like I was going to have a mental breakdown.
19:38I always felt like I was different.
19:40A desire to be someone was always an early feeling I had.
19:44I always wanted to be someone special.
19:46Terry was the most naive person, I think, in the world
19:49until he had graduated, gone to the Steelers, and got into that environment.
19:55The real world hit him pretty hard, and he began to not trust individuals.
20:01Terry was socially immature.
20:03I just think he hadn't been around in the big cities
20:06and hadn't seen what the rest of the world's like.
20:10When you come from a close-knit family
20:14that has encouraged you from here to there,
20:18you get put in a situation where you're really, quote, big time,
20:22and you don't get that same support from everybody,
20:26yeah, I think it would lead to insecurity.
20:28There was a lot of conflicts going on.
20:30Who he was, his own background, his own culture, his own beliefs,
20:35his religion, his stardom, and all of that.
20:37The shame of it was, there was never a more sociable guy than Terry.
20:42Terry, he'd love sitting around with you, gabbing for hours,
20:47but to see this extremely sociable person become a recluse was a sad thing.
20:55Not all of Terry Bradshaw's loneliness stemmed from his poor choices on the field.
21:00In 1971, he married former Miss Teen USA Melissa Babish.
21:05Bradshaw later recalled thinking,
21:07what in the world am I doing?
21:09I am definitely out of my mind.
21:11When he told me that, I said,
21:14why didn't you just back out?
21:17Well, everybody was there.
21:18I couldn't do that.
21:19It didn't even want to embarrass us.
21:21I said, it would have been a lot better to embarrass us
21:23than it would to go through with it.
21:25I don't know why he did that.
21:28The marriage lasted 18 months.
21:30In 1976, Bradshaw entered what turned out to be another mismatch,
21:35this time the professional figure skater Jojo Starbuck.
21:39She didn't like the ranch, and she left.
21:41And I had to go get her.
21:42I had to go get her two or three times,
21:44bring her back, and she never stayed.
21:46They just are always like this the whole time.
21:49The whole marriage was just deemed from the beginning.
21:53I hate to say Mel Sheldon, it's my guess, it's true.
21:55I wanted her there, you know?
21:57I'm not up on these modern-day ways, you know,
22:00and I didn't mind her working, but I wanted her home at night.
22:04Or else I wouldn't have gotten married.
22:06I thought I was going to be by myself all the time.
22:09That breakup with Jojo was devastating.
22:12In training camp, we joked and we kidded about sign-up sheets,
22:17making sure that everybody was with Terry, you know,
22:20by the time the lights went out until, you know,
22:23either he went to sleep through exhaustion
22:25so that he wouldn't do anything stupid.
22:27That's when mother and I would have to go see him
22:30or bring him to us and help him get over it.
22:34I think he truly loved Jojo,
22:36and that was hard for him to get over it.
22:41When Starbuck filed for divorce in the summer of 1980,
22:45emotionally wrung out Bradshaw,
22:47who had kept his teammates and the city of Pittsburgh
22:49at arm's length, was isolated.
22:52He was a little bit paranoid,
22:54and part of it, too, was his fault
22:56and the fact that he didn't become part of the community
22:59as all those other players did.
23:02He probably didn't make himself available enough
23:05so people would get to know him.
23:08He tried to isolate himself.
23:10Terry, you know, Terry was not a very outgoing person.
23:12He wasn't at a lot of parties.
23:13He liked the ranch,
23:14and, you know, he felt more comfortable in that.
23:16Terry didn't really need people to make him happy.
23:19A lot of his fun things that he did
23:23were he could do by himself.
23:25I saw this scruffy-looking dude
23:27sitting over by a plane with a straw hat on
23:29and a fishing pole.
23:30It was Terry Bradshaw.
23:31It started playing,
23:32heard there was a great bass lake up there,
23:34and he was going fishing all by himself.
23:36Thank God he's a country boy.
23:38He never went to any of the Steelers' Super Bowl parties afterwards
23:41because we were always there.
23:43Terry wasn't much of a partier anyway.
23:45He'd rather...
23:48Talk to the parade.
23:49First time with us.
23:51A buddy to anybody.
23:53I didn't have time to focus on building these great,
23:57close relationships
24:00because I had this job I had to do that consumed me.
24:05Somebody once said about the Noel Bradshaw thing,
24:08one needed love and the other couldn't get love.
24:10You know, Noel was not the kind of guy to pat you on the back,
24:13and that's what Chip he craved.
24:15The 14-year relationship of Chuck Noel and Terry Bradshaw
24:19is a study in contrast.
24:21Strictly old school,
24:23Noel believed that discipline and execution
24:25won more games than babysitting.
24:28He was looking at the big picture.
24:30He was looking at Terry,
24:31other than he wants Terry to produce.
24:33And Terry couldn't figure that out early on.
24:36He was used to coaches smiling and slapping on them.
24:40But I was scared of Chuck, always was.
24:45I'm like a little kid.
24:46I always wanted his approval.
24:48One of the things that, of course, did not help
24:52was the fact that when he'd come off the field,
24:55Chuck Noel would stand in his face berating him.
24:58He did call him a dummy a few times.
25:00Terry is very sensitive,
25:02and I think it was very hard for Terry to get used to this.
25:07We were playing up in New York
25:08in a preseason game against the Giants,
25:11and it was right before that.
25:12Chuck said to me,
25:13don't turn it over.
25:16Who do you think I did?
25:18In spite of Lockhart,
25:19the defensive back for the New York Giants,
25:21he's wide open.
25:22Don't turn it over.
25:23Throw it to him.
25:24There he goes.
25:25Touchdown.
25:25Don't turn it over.
25:29Then you go back for the sot night.
25:32You just get your ass chewed out.
25:34Coach Nova got in my placemath
25:36and drug him around.
25:39Terry called me very upset.
25:41I said, I'll talk to Mr. Murray,
25:44and that won't happen again.
25:49Known affectionately as the Chief,
25:52Steelers owner, Art Rooney,
25:53often provided Bradshaw with fatherly encouragement.
25:57Sounds like our movement.
25:59The Chief would come here,
26:00and he'd have that figure out for him.
26:02And you could see him as he walked away,
26:04I'd say, don't worry about it.
26:06He'll do better next week.
26:08Terry and my relationship was more,
26:11hey, you're being paid to do this,
26:14let's do it.
26:15Chuck Knorr was really the right person for him.
26:18There was no question about that,
26:20because Chuck was very firm with it.
26:25People have to sell themselves
26:26to the guys that are around him.
26:29And Terry hadn't done that early on.
26:32Joe Gillum, for example,
26:34performed well and did things well,
26:36so we gave him an opportunity.
26:38And what we wanted Terry to do was earn it.
26:41As bad as Terry wanted it,
26:43I don't know if he really pushed himself
26:46to the same degree as he would
26:47if Joe Gillum not been here.
26:49When Coach Noel binged him,
26:52I saw a different theory after that.
26:54I saw more determination
26:55to get it all back and to keep it.
26:58He had to make a conscious decision.
27:01We're talking about the 1974 season.
27:04in where he had to say to himself,
27:09you can be the quarterback.
27:11You can lead this team
27:13in spite of Chuck,
27:16the son of a bitch.
27:19Although Gillum led the Steelers
27:21to a 4-1-1 start in 1974,
27:24his eight interceptions prompted Noel
27:26to replace him with Bradshaw.
27:28But after performing poorly
27:29in a 13-10 loss to Houston in Week 12,
27:32the troubled quarterback
27:33was called into the head coach's office.
27:36We were going up to play New England.
27:38He said, this job's yours.
27:40If we get anywhere,
27:42we're going to get there with you.
27:44That's all I needed here.
27:46I responded to a pat,
27:48you know,
27:50more so than a firm hand.
27:52And never looked back.
27:56As Bradshaw gathered confidence,
27:58Pittsburgh closed out the regular season
28:00with two victories
28:01and a 10-3-1 record.
28:03After beating Buffalo
28:04and Oakland in the playoffs,
28:06the Steelers won their first Super Bowl,
28:08defeating Minnesota 16-6.
28:11I really saw him mature.
28:13From a guy that didn't have
28:15the slightest idea
28:16of what he was going to call,
28:18to a guy that knew
28:19what you could stop
28:21and what you couldn't stop.
28:23A year later,
28:24the Steelers were back
28:25in the championship game.
28:27There were about three minutes left
28:29in the fourth quarter
28:29of Super Bowl X.
28:30The situation
28:32would have been a gamble
28:33to throw the football.
28:35And Bradshaw called the play.
28:37Here's Bradshaw.
28:39He got popped
28:40and he released it
28:41and looked at the door.
28:43Another touchdown.
28:45I tackled
28:45even at Larry Cole's forearm,
28:48caught Terry on the chin.
28:50Oh!
28:50And I don't think he remembered
28:51the last quarter of the game.
28:53Then Cashaw said,
28:54did I fumble it.
28:56Do you remember anything?
28:57Not a whole lot.
28:59In January of 1979,
29:01the Steelers and the Cowboys
29:03squared off again
29:04in the Super Bowl.
29:05Bradshaw was brilliant,
29:06capping a regular season
29:08MVP performance
29:09by passing for more than 300 yards
29:11for the first time
29:12in his career.
29:13He's a four touchdown!
29:16Bradshaw's four touchdown passes
29:18helped beat Dallas 35-31
29:20and win him game MVP honors.
29:22The next season,
29:23the Steelers kept rolling.
29:25In Super Bowl XIV
29:27against the Rams,
29:28they're trailing
29:29in the fourth quarter
29:30it's 3rd and 9.
29:32Deep for Stalwood.
29:34Touchdown for the Steelers.
29:36Hello, folks.
29:37That's a touch.
29:43After winning their fourth Super Bowl
29:45in six years,
29:46the Steelers began
29:47to show their age.
29:48When an elbow injury
29:50sidelined Bradshaw in 1983,
29:53tension again mounted
29:54between Noel and his quarterback.
29:57I told him that the doctors,
29:58you know,
29:59had told me
30:00that it wasn't going to work,
30:03any kind of surgery.
30:04He decided that
30:05he would go and have it done,
30:07and he did.
30:08And that was the end of it.
30:10I said,
30:10Coach,
30:11I can't play anymore.
30:14He wished me well.
30:15We shook hands.
30:15I turned around and left.
30:19And that was it.
30:21He felt Chuck
30:22didn't show him
30:23enough respect.
30:25Terry wanted to be pampered
30:26a little bit.
30:27And he wasn't pampered.
30:29And so,
30:30he pretty much kissed
30:31Pittsburgh and the Steelers off.
30:34After Bradshaw retired
30:36in the spring of 1984,
30:38a bitterness lingered.
30:39Not only did it prevent him
30:40from speaking to Noel
30:42for nearly two decades,
30:43but when Art Rooney died
30:44in 1988,
30:46Bradshaw was conspicuously
30:47absent from the funeral.
30:49Then,
30:49a year later,
30:50Bradshaw distanced himself
30:52even further
30:53from the Steelers family
30:54when he chose
30:54broadcasting partner
30:55Vern Lundquist
30:56to induct him
30:57into the Pro Football
30:58Hall of Fame.
31:00I know that
31:00in his heart of hearts
31:01that Terry
31:03wishes
31:04that he had had
31:05a closer relationship
31:06with Chuck
31:08or with any
31:09of his teammates
31:09so that he could
31:10have involved that.
31:11Football in Pittsburgh
31:13to me,
31:14after the first
31:15three or four years,
31:16became a huge
31:19business.
31:21And that's why
31:22when I left that sucker,
31:23I buried it
31:24and went home
31:24by my wife.
31:27After his playing days,
31:29Bradshaw pursued
31:29a second career
31:30for which he unknowingly
31:32had been preparing
31:32since childhood.
31:34In movies,
31:35TV shows,
31:36and commercials,
31:36he played the clown.
31:40Once he lightened
31:41up a little bit
31:41himself,
31:43he became a person
31:44that could enjoy life
31:45rather than
31:46being so concerned
31:47with the critics.
31:48All right,
31:49which of geography
31:50we all had
31:51a little trouble
31:51in school?
31:52The self-deprecation
31:53came as a result
31:54of the negative
31:56things said about me.
31:58If I say worse,
31:59then maybe you'll laugh
32:00with me,
32:01but you won't know
32:02how pissed off
32:03I am at you.
32:05So I was just
32:05turning it around.
32:06That's what I did.
32:07I just turned it around.
32:08What are they going to say?
32:10I'd already
32:11been to the mountaintop
32:13as far as insults
32:14have gone.
32:14He's done a wonderful
32:15job of engaging
32:16in self-deprecating humor.
32:18He's made a lot
32:19of money off of that.
32:21He also tends
32:22to diffuse
32:24whatever barbers
32:25may come his way
32:26relative
32:27to that stereotype.
32:28Terry enjoys playing
32:29the lovable yokel,
32:31the lovable redneck,
32:33and I think that
32:34that's a mask
32:35behind which he hides
32:36a fairly astute mind.
32:39I have encountered
32:41Terry Bradshaw
32:42on the speaking circuit.
32:44And you have no idea
32:45how clever
32:46and sophisticated
32:48the man has to be
32:49in order to sound
32:50like such a bumpkin
32:51from northern Louisiana.
32:53Howie Long
32:54and I were talking
32:54about this
32:55and I said,
32:57what happens
32:57when Terry's IQ
32:59drops about 10 more points?
33:01And he said,
33:02that's 10 million.
33:04When Bradshaw
33:05signed with CBS
33:06to do color commentary
33:07on NFL games
33:08in 1984,
33:10it seemed a natural
33:11fit to almost everyone.
33:13They say,
33:13be yourself,
33:14and I don't know
33:14if that's such a good idea
33:16or not.
33:17He was pretty concerned
33:18in those early days
33:19about how he would
33:20come off.
33:21And as the days
33:22wore on
33:23and the years
33:24wore on,
33:24you could see him
33:25gaining in
33:26self-confidence.
33:27He's as much
33:28an entertainer
33:29as he is
33:30a sports analyst,
33:31and I think
33:32that's just
33:32in his nature.
33:33In that first year,
33:34he invented a player
33:36named Willie Anderson.
33:38And Willie Anderson
33:39either made
33:40a nice block
33:41or made the tackle
33:42on about
33:43six different kickoffs
33:45of games
33:46we did that year.
33:48Terry said,
33:48I just want to see
33:49if anybody ever notices
33:50that there's no
33:51Willie Anderson
33:52on the roster.
33:53We often had a saying,
33:54he was allowed
33:54two screwball things
33:55a month.
33:56And as soon as he did
33:58something,
33:58the phone would ring.
33:59That's one of them.
34:01From 1990
34:02to 1993,
34:04Bradshaw was a co-host
34:05on NFL Today.
34:07When Fox
34:08outdid CBS
34:09for the NFC's rights
34:10in 1994,
34:12Bradshaw moved
34:12to the new network
34:13and came of age
34:14in a more relaxed
34:15studio atmosphere.
34:17The best thing
34:18that ever happened
34:18to me
34:18was going to
34:20the Fox network
34:21because there,
34:23they encourage
34:24entertainment.
34:25They encourage you
34:26to be yourself.
34:27Let it happen.
34:29You never know
34:29what Terry's going
34:30to say.
34:31And there are times
34:32when I think
34:32that Terry's not
34:33really sure
34:34what Terry's going
34:35to say.
34:35And that's his beauty.
34:37When I was a little boy,
34:38my daddy would take me
34:39down to Bissonville
34:40State Park
34:40and sit me on a stump
34:41out in the middle
34:42of the water.
34:42And he'd say,
34:43jump to me, son.
34:45Jump to me.
34:45Daddy, I'll catch you.
34:46I wouldn't jump to him,
34:47Howie.
34:48I was petrified.
34:48I was scared.
34:49I didn't trust him.
34:50Finally, I jumped
34:51and he caught me.
34:53I was over it.
34:54Same thing today.
34:54Captain Bay, go to Philadelphia,
34:56win this football game
34:58and you get a brand
34:58new state of mind.
35:00The only effective
35:01way to manage Terry
35:02is to allow him,
35:04like a little kid,
35:05a bright kid,
35:06to tell his story,
35:08laugh because it
35:09is genuinely funny
35:10and then try to get
35:11it back on track.
35:12It probably has been
35:13times when there's
35:14been a quiet
35:15fatherly chat.
35:16This past week,
35:17I got a call
35:17from the 49ers
35:18through Fox
35:19who said Jeff Garcia
35:21was upset
35:21about the comments
35:22I made two weeks ago
35:23which I called him ugly.
35:24His mom and dad
35:26got upset
35:26with those comments.
35:27I'm telling you,
35:29ugly is the dumbest
35:30thing I've ever said
35:31since Will You Marry Me?
35:32No question about it.
35:34I'm telling you
35:35on Sunday afternoons
35:37on Fox
35:38is Terry Bradshaw.
35:40Terry was the same
35:41Terry Bradshaw
35:42that he was
35:43when I watched him
35:43play pro,
35:44that he was
35:44at Louisiana Tech
35:45and that he was
35:46at Woodlawn.
35:47That's the Terry
35:48that people in Pittsburgh
35:49didn't see before.
35:51He found his calling
35:52and he can be himself.
35:55At peace professionally,
35:57Bradshaw still faced
35:59serious personal issues
36:01off the set.
36:04I'll tell you,
36:07his love life
36:08has been terrible.
36:11In 1983,
36:12Bradshaw wed
36:13Charlotte Hopkins
36:14with whom he had
36:15two daughters,
36:16Erin and Rachel.
36:16But as his broadcasting
36:18career took off
36:19in the 1990s,
36:21his third marriage
36:22began to flounder.
36:24I think with Charlotte,
36:25it was just,
36:25he was out of town
36:26and she was here
36:28and he was nonstop.
36:30He's the life
36:31of the party.
36:32Everybody thinks
36:33they know Terry Bradshaw.
36:34It's got to be
36:35a real challenge
36:36for him
36:37in terms of maintaining
36:38some sense of normalcy.
36:40And I would imagine
36:41that that brings with it
36:42challenges and pulls
36:43in his relationships
36:45as well.
36:45When you come home
36:47and there's,
36:49you know,
36:49the wife and the kids
36:50and you're not
36:51the celebrity anymore.
36:52You're dad.
36:53Which Terry appreciates.
36:55But there's still
36:56other pulls on him.
36:58So it was difficult
36:59to live up to everything
37:00that Terry Bradshaw
37:01was supposed to be.
37:03In 1998,
37:05while Bradshaw struggled
37:06to save his marriage,
37:07he was diagnosed
37:08with ADD,
37:10Attention Deficit Disorder.
37:12About time.
37:12I knew there was
37:13something wrong
37:14because I just couldn't
37:14read anything
37:15without reading it
37:16five or six times.
37:17When I was trying
37:17to learn players'
37:18names and numbers,
37:20I just couldn't do it.
37:21It took me forever.
37:23They had a hard time
37:24with the medication
37:25for it in the beginning
37:27until getting it leveled
37:28for him.
37:28And he went through
37:29a lot of highs and lows.
37:31And that was
37:32the scary part.
37:33When he got that
37:33under control,
37:34at least got some
37:35medication and some focus,
37:37he felt much better.
37:38He was excited
37:39about the fact
37:40that he could sit
37:40and concentrate
37:41and listen to people.
37:42Now that explains
37:43the study habits.
37:44That explains
37:45the hyperness.
37:46That explains
37:46the attention problem.
37:49Not an excuse,
37:50not a crutch,
37:50but an explanation.
37:55Relieved by the revelation
37:57that what he had been
37:58hiding most of his life
37:59was not due to a lack
38:00of character
38:01or intelligence,
38:02Bradshaw soon was hit
38:03with another form
38:04of personal failure.
38:06In 1999,
38:07Charlotte filed for divorce
38:09after 16 years of marriage.
38:11What he was devastated
38:13about was the girls.
38:15Four rings, four marriages.
38:17He was so focused
38:20on making sure
38:21that they came through
38:21the breakup of the marriage.
38:23It was just overwhelming.
38:24And in doing all this therapy,
38:30I can find out
38:31I've been depressed,
38:32you know,
38:34my whole darn life.
38:36The depression, yes.
38:37I can see that.
38:38Terry is a man
38:40of enormous highs,
38:42but equally
38:44disastrous lows.
38:46There was a time
38:47before the show
38:47when he had asked
38:49everyone to leave
38:49out of the room
38:50as we were getting dressed
38:51and he cried
38:53on my shoulder.
38:55And he asked
38:56to have prayer
38:56before we went out
38:58to do the show
38:58so that he would have
38:59the strength
39:00to go forth.
39:02Divorce,
39:04depression,
39:05it does not matter.
39:07When the lights go on,
39:09my man gets it done.
39:11I am what I am,
39:12but I sure do like
39:13making you laugh.
39:14It makes me feel good.
39:15It feeds my spirit.
39:17It soothes my soul.
39:19The problem with trying
39:20to please everybody
39:24is that you end up
39:25pleasing very few people,
39:28at least of all,
39:28you're pleasing yourself.
39:31To fill the void
39:32in his personal life,
39:33Bradshaw turned to alcohol.
39:35What?
39:36I drink a lot.
39:41And, uh,
39:43you can't drink a lot,
39:45be depressed,
39:46have ADD,
39:47and you think,
39:48expect the world
39:48to be perfect.
39:50My dad was an alcoholic
39:52and he found my tears
39:53on him.
39:55Pretty heavy.
39:56I talked to him
39:58like a father should.
40:00The Lord can solve
40:01your problem,
40:01but that bottle
40:02didn't help you none.
40:05Bradshaw bottomed out
40:06on Father's Day,
40:081999.
40:10Preacher came over here
40:11because my wife
40:12called him
40:12because she thought
40:13I was going to commit
40:13suicide.
40:15And we went over
40:16to the barn
40:17and it was a pretty
40:18emotional thing out there
40:19knowing that your wife
40:19said,
40:20I don't love you anymore
40:21and I want a divorce.
40:23And he said,
40:25are you saved?
40:25And I said,
40:26no,
40:26you want to be?
40:27And I said,
40:27yes.
40:28And I remember sweat
40:29pouring off of me.
40:30My hair was,
40:31it was the most traumatic
40:33experience of my life.
40:35So,
40:36as a believer,
40:37I'm totally convinced
40:38the Holy Spirit
40:38came into my life
40:40right to him.
40:41He got back to his roots
40:42with God
40:43and rededicated
40:44his life to Christ.
40:45It has made him,
40:47if not happier,
40:49certainly more content.
40:51And certainly more accepting
40:52of the problems
40:53of his life.
40:57It's good
40:58to be home.
41:00God bless all of you.
41:03On October 20th,
41:052002,
41:06Bradshaw reconciled
41:07with the fans
41:08in Pittsburgh
41:08after more than
41:09two decades.
41:11That was a
41:12one-way street there
41:14and Terry,
41:16I think,
41:16now recognizes
41:17that maybe
41:19he was at fault.
41:20I went back
41:20to show them
41:22the Steeler fans
41:23that I love them,
41:24I care about them.
41:25I miss
41:26my Steeler family.
41:28And I was so sure
41:29about my reception
41:30that I took
41:30my girls with me.
41:35To make sure
41:35I didn't get fooded.
41:36I was still
41:37a little nervous,
41:38to be honest with you.
41:39There's still
41:40something that bothers
41:41him inside,
41:42that insecurity
41:43of,
41:44hey,
41:44am I totally
41:45complete with my life?
41:46I think he's
41:47getting there,
41:47but he's still
41:48like a little boy
41:49almost,
41:50you know,
41:50he's got to have
41:51somebody to truly
41:52love him for what
41:53he is.
41:53Am I happy,
41:54happy?
41:56No.
41:57Am I miserable?
41:58No.
41:59I've come to
41:59realization that
42:02I'm never going to
42:03be what I want to be.
42:05I'm coping,
42:06but I'm pleased
42:07with the journey
42:08I'm taking.
42:12In his whirlwind
42:13search for self-identity,
42:15Terry Bradshaw
42:16has written
42:17five autobiographies.
42:18His journey ended
42:19not with words
42:20on printed page,
42:21but in therapy.
42:23Today,
42:23when Bradshaw
42:24isn't on the air,
42:25he often can be found
42:26at his quarter horse
42:26ranch outside of Dallas,
42:28where the hired help
42:29sometimes kids him
42:30by asking
42:31if he has taken
42:32his pill.
42:33Now, everyone laughs.
42:35For SportsCentury,
42:37I'm Chris Fountain.
Comments