The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.
No. 12: Terry Bradshaw
Once the most accomplished passer in Pittsburgh Steelers history, Terry Bradshaw has watched Ben Roethlisberger erase nearly all of his records over the past 16 seasons.
Bradshaw no longer is the franchise leader in single-season passing yards or touchdown passes. Or career wins.
Big Ben owns them all.
It speaks to the era in which Bradshaw played that his career high in single-season yardage — 3,724 in 1979 — now ranks No. 9 in franchise history, with Roethlisberger holding the top eight. His then-record 28 touchdown passes in 1978 has been matched or exceeded by Roethlisberger six times.
Bradshaw, though, is owner of one quarterback record that has stood the test of time. He remains the first quarterback in NFL history to win four Super Bowls and his unbeaten 4-0 record on the game’s biggest stage has been matched only by Joe Montana.
Roethlisberger, of course, remains stuck on two Super Bowl championships as he enters his 17th NFL season.
Because of his ability to come through time and again in his sport’s biggest moments, Bradshaw easily was named the best Pittsburgh athlete to wear No. 12 in a vote by the Tribune-Review sports staff.
Drafted No. 1 overall in 1970, Bradshaw’s ascension to an NFL elite quarterback wasn’t exactly linear. It took five seasons for Bradshaw to finally shake off Joe Gilliam and Terry Hanratty to win the job full-time.
Bradshaw, in fact, started only seven (or half) of the Steelers’ games in 1974 when they marched to the franchise’s first championship. In the playoffs, however, he threw a touchdown pass that put the Steelers ahead for good against Buffalo, and he threw another against Oakland that provided the Steelers the lead for good in the fourth quarter. And Bradshaw’s touchdown pass to Larry Brown helped the Steelers ice Super Bowl IX, 16-6, against Minnesota.
The next year, Bradshaw threw two touchdowns (with no interceptions) in a 21-17 victory against Dallas in Super Bowl X. When the Steelers returned to the Super Bowl after the 1978-79 seasons, Bradshaw didn’t just orchestrate two more wins. He now was the focal point of the Steelers offense and earned MVP honors in Super Bowl XIII against Dallas and Super Bowl XIV against Los Angeles.
Bradshaw threw for 318 yards and four touchdowns in the Steelers’ third championship, and he followed with 309 yards and two touchdown passes in the franchise’s fourth title in a six-year span.
Bradshaw never won another playoff game and retired after the 1983 season with an elbow injury. Before he left, Bradshaw played one final game and threw two touchdown passes in a win against the New York Jets that helped the Steelers make the ‘83 playoffs.
Bradshaw was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year of eligibility, and the Steelers have never issued his jersey to another player.
No. 12 has been worn prominently by several other Pittsburgh athletes:
• For the Pirates, Freddy Sanchez won the 2006 NL batting title with a .344 average and batted .301 in six seasons with the team. Mike LaValliere was part of a catching platoon on three consecutive division championship teams (1990-92). Don Hoak batted .282 with 16 homers and 79 RBIs on the 1960 World Series championship team.
And, memorably, Carrick’s John Wehner hit the last home run in Three Rivers Stadium history in 2000, one of just four homers he hit in his MLB career.
• For the Penguins, Greg Malone scored 143 goals and totaled 364 points in seven seasons (1976-83). His son, Ryan, grabbed the sweater and had 87 goals and 169 points in four seasons in the 2000s. Bob Errey wore the number for much of his 10-year career when he totaled 132 goals and 272 points while also hoisting the Stanley Cup on two occasions.
• Paul Child scored at least 50 goals in his first two seasons for the Pittsburgh Spirit. He finished with a team-record 207 goals in five seasons before the indoor soccer franchise folded in 1986.
• Duquesne’s Dick Ricketts is just one of 13 men to play in MLB and the NBA. After averaging 17.7 points and 12.2 rebounds in 111 games on The Bluff, Ricketts was the No. 1 overall pick of the St. Louis Hawks in 1955. He played three seasons in the NBA, then he pitched in 12 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959. His jersey was retired by Duquesne in 2001.
• Matt Cavanaugh quarterbacked Pitt to the 1976 national championship and was named Sugar Bowl MVP. He was the Gator Bowl MVP the following season. A second-round draft pick, Cavanaugh mostly served as a backup in the NFL, winning Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants.
Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.
Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe by email at jrutter@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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