FOOTBALL & family
Legendary NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw on football memories, being a grandpa and why he was glad to leave the game behind.
“I’m in the horse business,” says Terry Bradshaw of a horse award displayed on the shelves behind him. He’s talking to Parade over Zoom from his 744-acre ranch in Thackerville, Okla., where he breeds competitive quarter horses. He’s also, of course, in the football business: Having discovered the gridiron at age 7 in Camanche, Iowa, Bradshaw, 72, famously played quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers for 14 seasons and earned a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To date, he has won three Emmys during his 26 years as a sports analyst for Fox NFL Sunday’s pregame show.
Bradshaw also has appeared in movies and TV shows, often alongside his football buddies and Hollywood pals. He’s an avid singer with five country and gospel albums and a Las Vegas gig at the Luxor that he’s hoping to get back to performing this year. And he’s headed into a second season as star of the E! reality show The Bradshaw Bunch with his family: wife Tammy, 59 (his fourth spouse; they’re married now for six years but together for 20); his daughters, Rachel, 33, and Erin, 31, and her daughter, Lacey, 31; and grandchildren Zurie, 7, and Jebediah, 3. “They just love their Papi,” says Bradshaw. “It’s just fun to sit back and watch ’em grow, sprout their wings. It really brings life into full circle for me.”
Now, looking toward the big NFC championship game
( Jan. 24 on Fox), which will determine one of the two teams that will advance to the 55th Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 7, Bradshaw—who has four Super Bowl championship rings himself—shares how it felt being a No. 1 draft pick, memories of what made him a gridiron legend and the acting role that earned him an earful from his preacher.
What are your fondest memories growing up with brothers Gary and Craig in Louisiana and Iowa?
Fishing, going barefoot, chasing stuff, you know, shooting birds with slingshots, trails in the woods and riding our bikes. It was just a perfect, perfect childhood. And then, when we moved to Iowa, we’d never seen snow. They would flood the basketball arena and we’d ice-skate at night.
What were you like in college at Louisiana Tech?
I was a terrible student—I’m not even gonna lie about that! I just couldn’t stay focused. Later in life, I got tested for ADHD, and so you kind of have an excuse: “Ahh, I was an ADHD kid!” I was a leader of the pack, I guess you could say—getting a lot of attention as a hotshot quarterback. But I was not a playboy; I was not a beer drinker. I was pretty much locked in on my craft. I wanted
‘All my life, I’ve been that child that’s always been the center of attention. I enjoy being goofy. It feeds my soul.’
to make something out of my life, and I realized I was really good at football, and going into the NFL was a high priority for me, so I didn’t have time to mess around.
How do you feel about quarterbacks today making $25 million their first year when you were selling used cars in the NFL off-season to make ends meet? Sick to my stomach’s the answer to that one! [Laughs] I signed with Pittsburgh for $25,000 rookie year, $5,000 raise next year and $100,000 signing bonus spread out over 10 years. Compare that to today and you say to yourself, “They’re paying that guy $135 million and he ain’t worth three and a half!” But I mean, sour grapes? I don’t have that at all.
When you retired at 35, were you ready to leave the game? I was more than ready. I’d had two years of struggling with injuries. Professional football was not as enjoyable as it should have been. It was not the glamorous life. It had worn me out. Not one day have I ever said to myself, “Oh, I wish that I was still playing.” It’s the opposite; I wish I had gotten out earlier.
If you had the choice, would you want to play in today’s NFL? There’s two reasons I’d want to play in today’s game: Number one, I’d be [he shouts] filthy rich! Two, it would be so much fun to throw the football 40 times a game and throw it all over the field. I’d own a private jet. I’d have my own yacht! And then we’d win Super Bowls, and I would be a hero and I would have hair plugs and beautiful wavy hair.
So due to COVID this year, obviously football has been . . . Crazy. It’s been sad. Watching football with empty crowds, I don’t enjoy it. I needed the crowd. Players, we’re—listen, it’s like doing a Broadway play and there’s nobody out in the audience. We need to hear the “Boo!” or we need to hear the cheer.
Is anything off-limits for you on the reality show The Bradshaw Bunch? All my whole life, I’ve been that child that’s just always been the center of attention. I enjoy being goofy. It feeds my soul. I’m totally comfortable in my own skin.
There’s nothing I won’t do. In the movie Failure to Launch, when I went naked, my mother went, “You were not raised like that! You’re a Baptist!” [Laughs] Little did I know that when I went to church that Sunday the preacher would preach about what a sinful human being I was. I don’t mind. I do mind that in the first year of [The Bradsahw Bunch]
I was extremely big, and I since have lost 20-something pounds. I’m not real proud of the way I look on the air, but at the same time, I’m like, “Ahh, screw it, I’m 72, you’re supposed to have a gut!”
What was it like working with Burt Reynolds? It was instant likability. Burt immediately brought me into his fold. I was always part of, “We’re going out tonight. I’m going over to Dinah Shore’s, we’re gonna have dinner there.” So I was part of his inner circle. It was cool. Such a good dude.
You’ve been with Tammy for 20 years. What has this marriage taught you about love and yourself? She is without question my best friend. We fish, we love the grandkids to death, we finish each other’s thoughts, we love to worship together, we watch old movies, we love to go to bed early, we don’t need to be entertained. I’m 13 years older, and I’ve said this to her: “I’m gonna
be holding your hand when I say goodbye to this world.” And that’s pretty cool. I found somebody. After three divorces, I finally found love.
As a Fox NFL Sunday co-host, what have you learned from being around your other commentators? It’s kind of like a football team: Jimmy Johnson looks at things from a coach’s standpoint. Howie Long and Michael Strahan look at it from a defensive lineman’s standpoint. I look at it from a quarterback’s standpoint because I called the plays. And then Curt [Menefee] is kind of like the general manager. So you learn your friends and what they like and don’t like, and you stay away from what they don’t like because you care about ’em. We’re proud of it, you know? We’re proud to be a part of that, and it shows.
What would you say is the secret to a happy life? I think it’s important that we like who we are. At the end of the day, I want to say I’m proud of me. I like the way I handled this, I like the way I handled that, I learned from this and I’ve tried to take as much bad and turn it into as much good.