Athletes - Terry Bradshaw

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	Athletes - Terry Bradshaw

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.

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.

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."

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Athletes - Terry Bradshaw

High school and college

NFL career

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