Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality

(Hardback)

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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 Bradshaws 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 footballs most-recognized athletes. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with coaches, friends, coworkers, and football fans, this book illuminates Bradshaws celebrity status in the context of nearly 50 years of interacting with football fans and the larger American pop culture.

Reviews

Many are aware of Terry Bradshaws 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 Bradshaws 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 Bradshaws 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 Bradshaws 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 Bradshaws 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 *
Historian and author Abrams (The Bullets, the Wizards, and Washington, D.C., Basketball) carefully details Bradshaws long career, from his working-class Louisiana childhood to his current status as a football legend (four-time Super Bowlwinning quarterback), TV sports commentator, and performer in movies and television. Abrams provides an exhaustive look at the highlights of Bradshaws career with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is especially good in discussing the teams win over the Dallas Cowboys in 1979s 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 imagein 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. * Publishers Weekly *
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 Bradshaws professional football career in three perfunctory chapters. The real focus of this book is the development of the players celebrity and exploitation of that persona via pop culture. Abrams examines Bradshaws 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 Bradshaws 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.... VERDICT A unique take on Bradshaws life and career primarily of interest to students of pop culture. * Library Journal *
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 hes been able to market that after his final touchdown pass was thrown in 1983 against the New York Jets. If youre 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 wont be disappointed. * Steelers Gab *
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 *
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, Professor and Associate Dean, Texas Tech University, and author of Mike Torrez: A Baseball Biography
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, analyst and personality, CBS Sports Radio WLLF 96.7 FM
Brett Abrams Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality is an interesting and illuminating study of Terry Bradshaws 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, author of NFL Football: A History of Americas New National Pastime

Author Bio

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).