Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality

by Brett L. Abrams

Overview

Terry Bradshaw made a name for himself as the star quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning four Super Bowls and twice earning the MVP award. Beyond his athletic success, Bradshaw has established himself as a true cultural icon through his ventures into television, movies, and music.

In Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality, Brett L. Abrams details the many personas of this larger-than-life entertainer. Not satisfied with “just” being a star quarterback, Bradshaw became an actor, commercial pitchman, country western and gospel singer, color commentator, and NFL pregame co-host. In addition to covering Bradshaw’s life and career, Abrams discusses the stereotypes Bradshaw faced and his ability to turn those preconceived notions into a positive, likeable, “down home” image that enabled him to find success across the entertainment industries. Ultimately, Bradshaw has become not only an iconic sports figure, but a cultural icon, as well.

Terry Bradshaw delivers a new and refreshing look at one of football’s most-recognized athletes. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with coaches, friends, coworkers, and football fans, this book illuminates Bradshaw’s celebrity status in the context of nearly 50 years of interacting with football fans and the larger American pop culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442277649
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/08/2017
Series:	Sports Icons and Issues in Popular Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Brett L. Abrams is archivist of electronic records in Washington, DC. He is a cultural and urban historian whose previous books include Hollywood Bohemians: Transgressive Sexuality and the Selling of the Movieland Dream (2008), Capital Sporting Grounds: A History of Stadium and Ballpark Construction in Washington, D.C. (2009), and The Bullets, the Wizards, and Washington, DC, Basketball (2012).

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Terry Bradshaw in the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 1: Born In the Bayou: Making Heroes
Chapter 2: The Bradshaw Image: Moses v. Li’l Abner
Chapter 3: Two Golden Rings: Becoming the Leading Man
Chapter 4: Two More Golden Rings: Taking Center Stage
Chapter 5: Little bit Country & Little bit Gospel: Old School Southern Singer
Chapter 6: From Advertising to Acting: Being a Good Old Boy
Chapter 7: Leaving It On the Field: Hero Digs Deep
Chapter 8: Press Box View: The Colorful Unfiltered Commentator
Chapter 9: Studio Analysis and Hijinks: Playing “Terry Bradshaw”
Chapter 10: Host, Guest Star & Commercials: Zany Uncle Terry

Conclusion: Sports Icons and Celebrity Entertainers
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

07/17/2017
Historian and author Abrams (The Bullets, the Wizards, and Washington, D.C., Basketball) carefully details Bradshaw’s long career, from his working-class Louisiana childhood to his current status as a football legend (four-time Super Bowl–winning quarterback), TV sports commentator, and performer in movies and television. Abrams provides an exhaustive look at the highlights of Bradshaw’s career with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is especially good in discussing the team’s win over the Dallas Cowboys in 1979’s Super Bowl XIII (“Even today, the NFL lists the game as one of its greatest”). Abrams describes how Bradshaw has carefully crafted his down-home everyman public image—in movies, commercials, and as a sports commentator. Abrams delivers an excellent look at how Bradshaw combined his Southern roots with his extensive knowledge of football to reshape the “stodgy” pregame sports programs of CBS and Fox. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

It is a very interesting story of [Bradshaw's] evolution from NFL Quarterback to a multi faceted career that continues to this day. Mr. Abrams does an excellent job in tracing the areas of Bradshaw's post NFL career especially when looking at his broadcasting career. His transition from the color commentator to pre game host is a fascinating read.... If you are looking for an interesting read on Terry Bradshaw from his beginnings as a football player in Shreveport, Louisiana to his reshaping the television world of pre game NFL shows, this book will be for you. I found it to be an enjoyable and informative read.

Gridiron Greats

Many are aware of Terry Bradshaw’s Hall of Fame football career and subsequent role as an announcer and host for Fox Sports NFL broadcasts. But Bradshaw has also enjoyed success as an actor and singer during his more than 40 years as a public personality. This engaging read opens by briefly setting the stage for the Louisiana-born Bradshaw’s college football career; Abrams, a cultural historian, moves quickly to Bradshaw's years with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. It was during the height of Bradshaw’s success on the playing field that his singing and acting careers began. Both are covered in detail, providing insights into these lesser-known aspects of Bradshaw’s life. When an elbow injury ended his football career, Bradshaw moved into the broadcast booth, and he continues to enjoy success as a host or cohost in a variety of sports and outdoor-related television programs. The author closes with an examination of Bradshaw’s “good old boy” public persona and how it may have impacted perceptions of the southern United States in other regions of the country. This book would be a welcome addition to sports and cultural history collections. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.

Choice Reviews

What Brett Abrams has done with this gem of a book is to highlight the extraordinarily multi-talented person Terry Bradshaw actually is. This book pulls the veil down and allows the reader to see the real Bradshaw, and perhaps to understand where he is coming from when he says some of the things he has said. Bradshaw is a legend, an all-time icon, but not just in Pittsburgh, not just for football.

Chris Burtch

The book is a great account of the Hall of Fame QB, and his transition from throwing passes to the likes of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, to trading barbs with the likes of Michael Strahan on the set of Fox Football Sunday…. The book gives some great insight as to the rise of Bradshaw, as well as his fight and struggle along the way to becoming the celebrity he is today and has been in the public spotlight for close to the last 50 years. The author carefully talks about how Bradshaw has become a lot more in his life than a guy throwing a football, he speaks in great detail of how multi-talented Bradshaw is, and how he’s been able to market that after his final touchdown pass was thrown in 1983 against the New York Jets. If you’re looking for a great Steelers read this winter while the black and gold are looking to reach a seventh Lombardi, try this 328-page account of Bradshaw, you won’t be disappointed.

Steelers Gab

Terry Bradshaw is not only a Super Bowl winning quarterback, NFL Hall-of-Famer, and an actor/broadcaster, he is, as Abrams adroitly argues, an entertainer who has helped convey a positive portrayal of the southern “good old boy” personae to a broad audience. Abrams’ work is more than biography: it examines how Bradshaw used his talents (on the field and off) so as to develop a character who has generated a more positive perception of Southerners throughout the entire nation.

Jorge Iber

Brett Abrams’ Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality is an interesting and illuminating study of Terry Bradshaw’s life and career with an emphasis on Bradshaw as an iconic pop culture figure. Abrams captures the symbolic cultural significance of the football hero who makes the transition to the world of television sports and entertainment. The intersection and overlap of these two careers offers insight into the power of sport and entertainment in modern America.

Richard C. Crepeau

Many are aware of Terry Bradshaw’s Hall of Fame football career and subsequent role as an announcer and host for Fox Sports NFL broadcasts. But Bradshaw has also enjoyed success as an actor and singer during his more than 40 years as a public personality. This engaging read opens by briefly setting the stage for the Louisiana-born Bradshaw’s college football career; Abrams, a cultural historian, moves quickly to Bradshaw's years with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. It was during the height of Bradshaw’s success on the playing field that his singing and acting careers began. Both are covered in detail, providing insights into these lesser-known aspects of Bradshaw’s life. When an elbow injury ended his football career, Bradshaw moved into the broadcast booth, and he continues to enjoy success as a host or cohost in a variety of sports and outdoor-related television programs. The author closes with an examination of Bradshaw’s “good old boy” public persona and how it may have impacted perceptions of the southern United States in other regions of the country. This book would be a welcome addition to sports and cultural history collections. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.

Choice

Many are aware of Terry Bradshaw’s Hall of Fame football career and subsequent role as an announcer and host for Fox Sports NFL broadcasts. But Bradshaw has also enjoyed success as an actor and singer during his more than 40 years as a public personality. This engaging read opens by briefly setting the stage for the Louisiana-born Bradshaw’s college football career; Abrams, a cultural historian, moves quickly to Bradshaw's years with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. It was during the height of Bradshaw’s success on the playing field that his singing and acting careers began. Both are covered in detail, providing insights into these lesser-known aspects of Bradshaw’s life. When an elbow injury ended his football career, Bradshaw moved into the broadcast booth, and he continues to enjoy success as a host or cohost in a variety of sports and outdoor-related television programs. The author closes with an examination of Bradshaw’s “good old boy” public persona and how it may have impacted perceptions of the southern United States in other regions of the country. This book would be a welcome addition to sports and cultural history collections. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.

CHOICE

08/01/2017
In this second title in the "Sports Icons and Issues in Pop Culture" series, archivist Abrams (Capital Sporting Grounds) covers Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw's professional football career in three perfunctory chapters. The real focus of this book is the development of the player's celebrity and exploitation of that persona via pop culture. Abrams examines Bradshaw's music albums, television and movie roles, commercial advertising campaigns, and books as they interact with American culture and how each was received both by critics and the public. An important subtheme is how Bradshaw's Southern background (he was born and raised in Louisiana) helped shape his image, and how his popularity contributed to the evolution of the overall perception of the South. The one weakness is Abrams's attempt to incorporate the "fan's" view of Bradshaw by relying on interviews and comments from various websites. VERDICT A unique take on Bradshaw's life and career primarily of interest to students of pop culture rather than football fans.

Library Journal