Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw’s finest career moment isn’t the Immaculate Reception pass to Franco Harris or any of his nine touchdown passes in four Super Bowl appearances. According to Bradshaw, it was when he handed the Lombardi Trophy to Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. after winning Super Bowl IX, the Steelers’ first championship in the franchise’s 42-year history.
“I know a lot of people would say the Immaculate Reception in ’72 against the Raiders but really, no. The game I remember the most is Super Bowl IX against the Vikings, and the only reason is because I was standing in the crowd of players when [NFL Commissioner] Pete Rozelle gave Art Rooney the Vince Lombardi World Championship trophy. He was such a humble owner and I was so close to him, so it was cool to see after all those years of struggling. “It wasn’t a play or anything other than watching Mr. Rooney get his first Super Bowl trophy. That’s my finest moment,” Bradshaw recently told James Wood of The Morning Call in a Q&A.
Most of the interview centered around Bradshaw’s acclaimed stage production, “The Terry Bradshaw Show,” which will be at the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
However, Bradshaw also shared an interesting story with The Morning Call about his 64-yard touchdown pass to Lynn Swann in Super Bowl X.
“Here’s one of my favorite stories about the 64-yard touchdown pass I threw to [Lynn] Swann in Super Bowl X,” Bradshaw told Wood. “My brother is a super critic of mine. He’s one of those guys who says, ‘I love you! You’re my man!’ and then takes a shot at you in fun [laughs]. In that touchdown pass to Swann, [Dallas Cowboys defender] Larry Cole drilled me right in the temple. I didn’t remember anything. I mean, nothing! And there’s a picture where I’m trying to push myself up off the ground to look downfield and then I laid my head back down, and my brother claims that I thought it was a touchdown. So, he was basically accusing me of faking it [laughs]. I said to him, ‘If you had ever played quarterback and got your ass knocked off and were laying down on the field on your back, do you think you could pull just your head up and see the play? [laughs].’ We had a good discussion over that because he accused me of being an actor. But it was a tough game back then because it was a lot more physical.”