On Jan. 12, 1975, Terry Bradshaw helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to their first of four 1970s Super Bowl titles. That was for the ’74 season, and they won again for ’75, ’78, and ’79. Fifty years and three months later, many of those who remain, and numerous others, gathered in part to honor that landmark event.
Bradshaw and many of his teammates participated in Mel Blount’s charity celebrity roast on Friday. Not before he played some heroics on his flight over, of course, a tale that he already fitfully, playfully mythologized. While there, he recalled the Steelers’ first Super Bowl win—and his favorite moment, which didn’t come on the field.
“I was standing in the back, and they had Mr. Rooney on a podium. And watching him get the trophy — that is my favorite memory”, Terry Bradshaw recalled of the Steelers’ first Super Bowl victory, via JoAnne Klimovich Harrop of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The “Mr. Rooney” in this case is Art Rooney, who founded the Steelers in 1933. For most of their history up to that point, they were the lovable losers. That is what made it so poignant for Bradshaw and other players to witness The Chief hoist the Lombardi. He had treated his players with dignity, yet he didn’t necessarily know how to manage a winner. With some helping hands—as from his sons, Dan and Art Jr., and Bill Nunn—they suddenly had a dynasty.
“You don’t often get to put groups of men together that love and care about one another and are so talented. And we can win Super Bowls — four of them”, Bradshaw recalled of his Steelers days. “It’s a reuniting of all the fun we had back then. I got excited going through the (Fort Pitt) tunnel and saying, ‘Oh, there’s the stadium’”.
The Steelers had never won a playoff game of any kind until 1972, thanks to a miraculous ricochet from Terry Bradshaw to Franco Harris. At the time, they weren’t quite ready to take it all the way, but they were nearly there. Two years later, the Steelers made their mark on history, and didn’t stop for the next six years.
Along with Bradshaw, the Steelers produced nine other players from those teams who went on to the Hall of Fame. That list includes Harris, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, Mike Webster, Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Donnie Shell, and, of course, Mel Blount.
Blount said that he believes the Steelers’ Super Bowl IX victory helped turn the entire region of Pittsburgh around. With Bradshaw and company, they had a winner—and the national spotlight. “Pittsburgh saw itself in the public eye and started to clean itself up. And here we are today with one of the best-looking cities in the whole country”.
Even before the Steelers became winners, football was Pittsburgh’s business. But they embraced their winners of the 1970s, from Terry Bradshaw on down, and revere them to this day. Even today’s Steelers team retains a robust relationship with its alumni, through events such as this. It’s only a shame they are having so much difficulty adding to that Lombardi display case.
