The Tribune-Review sports team performs a daily countdown to the most productive players in the history of professional and college sports in Pittsburgh to wear the jersey number.
No. 12: Terry Bradshaw
Once the top full-pass in Pittsburgh Steelers history, Terry Bradshaw has noticed that Ben Roethlisberger upsted all of his records over the more than 16 seasons.
Bradshaw is no longer the franchise leader in air yards or landing passes in a season without getting married. Or victories.
Big Ben owns them all.
This is a testament to Bradshaw’s time in the game and his career at the peak of his career in an unmarried season, 3724 in 1979, now ranks ninth in franchise history, with Roethlisberger among the eight most sensible. His 28 landing passes, then a record, in 1978, were matched or surpassed by Roethlisberger six times.
Bradshaw, however, owns a record quarterback who withstood the passage of time. He remains the first quarterback in NFL history to win 4 Super Bowls and his undefeated 4-0 record at the biggest level of the game matched only through Joe Montana.
Roethlisberger, of course, remains stuck in two Super Bowl championships as he enters his NFL season.
Because of his ability to cross over and over again in the most important moments of his sport, Bradshaw seamlessly named Pittsburgh’s most productive athlete to use number 12 in a vote through tribune-Review’s sports staff.
Selected as the No. 1 overall in 1970, Bradshaw’s rise to elite NFL quarterback was not exactly linear. Bradshaw took five seasons in, however, getting rid of Joe Gilliam and Terry Hanratty to win the full-time position.
Bradshaw, in fact, only seven (or half) of the Steelers games in 1974 when they reached the first championship of the franchise. In the playoffs, however, he launched a landing pass that put the Steelers ahead by smart as opposed to Buffalo, and pitched another against Oakland that gave the Steelers the advantage of smart in the final quarter. And Bradshaw’s landing pass to Larry Brown helped the Steelers face Super Bowl IX, 16-6, as opposed to Minnesota.
The following year, Bradshaw pitched two touchdowns (no interceptions) in a 21-17 win over Dallas in Super Bowl X. When the Steelers returned to the Super Bowl after the 1978–79 seasons, Bradshaw not only orchestrated two more victories. He is now the focal point of the Steelers’ offense and won Super Bowl XIII’s Most Valuable Player honors against Dallas and Super Bowl XIV against Los Angeles.
Bradshaw threw for 318 yards and 4 landings in the Steelers’ third championship, and followed with 309 yards and two landing passes for the franchise’s 4th name in six years.
Bradshaw never won the playoffs and retired after the 1983 season due to an elbow injury. Before leaving, Bradshaw played one last game and pitched two landing passes in a win over the New York Jets that helped the Steelers advance to the playoffs in ’83.
Bradshaw was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year of eligibility, and the Steelers never passed his jersey to any other player.
The No. 12 used prominently among several other Pittsburgh athletes:
For the Pirates, Freddy Sanchez won the 2006 National League batting name with an Array344 average of 0.344 and an Array301 stick in six seasons with the team. Mike LaValliere is a capture squad in 3 consecutive departmental championship groups (1990-92). Don Hoak hit Array282 with 16 home runs and 79 RBIs in the 1960 World Series champion team.
And, memorably, Carrick’s John Wehner connected the last house race in the history of Three Rivers Stadium in 2000, one of the four house races he managed in his MLB career.
For the Penguins, Greg Malone scored 143 goals and scored 364 points in seven seasons (1976–83). His son, Ryan, grabbed the sweater and scored 87 goals and 169 points in four seasons in the 2000s. Bob Errey has been up ahead for much of his 10-year career when he totaled 132 goals and 272 problems while winning the Stanley Cup twice.
Paul Child scored at least 50 goals in his first two seasons with the Pittsburgh Spirit. He finished with a team record of 207 goals in five seasons before the indoor franchise retired in 1986.
Dukesne’s Dick Ricketts is just one of thirteen men playing in MLB and NBA. After averaging 17.7 problems and 12.2 rebounds in 111 games in The Bluff, Ricketts, the St. Louis Hawks’ No. 1 pick in 1955. He played three seasons in the NBA and then pitched 12 games for the St. Louis. Cardinals in 1959. His shirt was undone through Duquesne in 2001.
Matt Cavanaugh Pitt’s field marshal at the 1976 national championship and named Sugar Bowl MVP. He became the Gator Bowl’s Most Valuable Player the following season. A second-round pick in the draft, Cavanaugh served primarily as a replacement in the NFL, winning Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers and new York Giants.
Check out the full “Burgh’s Best to Wear It” series here.
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