Speaking at the annual Mel Blount Youth Home All-Star Celebrity Roast on Friday, Hall of Fame Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw immediately addressed the rumors on social media of him busting open a door to help free passengers on a plane Thursday from Dallas to Pittsburgh.
And then he embellished the story a bit.
“The plane was coming in and we lost control. The landing gear wouldn’t come down and one engine went out. The pilot had passed out. The passengers were passed out. The co-pilot panicked.
“I threw him out of there and jumped in his seat and took control, and I couldn’t see because of the clouds. People were screaming. When we landed, our first bounce was a little over 300 feet. Then I hit the brakes on the plane and we came to a screeching halt.
“After that, I smoked a couple of cigarettes.
“And the rest is history. Here I am, a hero. Wow,” Bradshaw said, to the laughter of the crowd at the Wyndham in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Most of that plane story isn’t true.
Two things are, though. Bradshaw and his wife, Tammy, were on a flight that landed at Pittsburgh International Airport. And he is definitely a hero in Pittsburgh for guiding the Steelers to four Super Bowl championships.
The Friday night event also commemorated the 50th anniversary of Super Bowl IX, the Steelers’ first National Football League championship. He and his teammates — and 800 guests — celebrated at a dinner of filet, sea bass and Boursin mashed Yukon gold potatoes. Dessert was salted caramel cake and morello cherry mousse bombe.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop | TribLive
Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw welcomes the 800 guests to the Mel Blount Youth Home All-Star Celebrity Roast on Friday at the Wyndham Pittsburgh, Downtown.
Bradshaw came to Pittsburgh to be the master of ceremonies for Blount’s annual event. Usually the event is a roast of a former player or coach. But this year, Blount wanted to focus on the team’s breakout Super Bowl.
The Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 16-6, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans in unexpectedly frigid temperatures. Bradshaw threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Larry Brown that cemented the victory late in the fourth quarter.
Brown said what he remembers most is that the final score was in the Steelers’ favor. Steelers quarterback Terry Hanratty recalled that tickets were $25.
“We had quite a run together that you don’t see in this league,” said Hall of Famer defensive tackle Joe Greene. “It was a lot of fun.”
The late Franco Harris, a Hall of Fame running back, was the game’s Most Valuable Player. He rushed for 158 yards.
Two weeks before Harris died in December 2022, he and Bradshaw filmed a commercial honoring the Immaculate Reception. It was just a few days before a 50th anniversary celebration of Harris’ legendary play that sealed a playoff victory.
“We went out to dinner and we laughed,” Bradshaw said. “I am not a look-over-your-shoulder guy until I get here, because it’s fun. This is what we have here … the things that happened yesteryear.”
Following the 1975 Super Bowl win, the Steelers went on to win three more in a six-year span, with Bradshaw becoming the first NFL quarterback to earn a quartet of championship rings.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop | TribLive
From left, Terry Bradshaw and his wife, Tammy, and TiAnda Blount and her husband, Mel Blount, at the Mel Blount Youth Home All-Star Celebrity Roast on Friday.
“The best part of being here is seeing these guys and also helping to raise money,” Bradshaw said. “It is such a great cause. Thank God for Mel and TiAnda.”
He is referring to Mel and TiAnda Blount, hosts of the event that benefits the Mel Blount Youth Leadership Initiative. The organization provides youths with programs where they have a healthy environment to learn, work, play and develop principles of responsibility, respect and leadership through moral and character development, nurturing and guidance.
The idea to start the event was TiAnda Blount’s. She wanted to celebrate her husband’s 50th birthday.
“My wife said I’m going to have a party and I’m going to charge people to come and we’re going to raise money,” said Mel Blount, who turned 77 on Thursday. “I said, ‘Nobody’s going to pay to come to my birthday party.’ ”
Well, they did — and they continue to. That’s because these players are part of a brotherhood, Blount said.
“What we are doing tonight is celebrating Super Bowl IX, which in my opinion turned this whole region around, not just the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the businesses and Pittsburgh,” Blount said. “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.”
Bradshaw said the great thing about all the players from this team is that they were all drafted by the Steelers — there were no free agents, either. Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll and his staff did a great job of assembling all of them, Bradshaw said.
“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 said. “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.’ And my wife said, ‘You played there?’ I said, ‘I didn’t play there. I played on that spot on those same grounds.’ ”
Bradshaw recalled Art Rooney Sr., known as The Chief, holding the team’s first Vince Lombardi trophy after Super Bowl IX.
“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,” Bradshaw said.
Steelers guard Gerry “Moon” Mullins said when Rooney was holding the trophy, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
Nights like this are exciting, said Merril Hoge, who announced all the Steelers players in attendance and also helped to emcee and moderate the conversations about Super Bowl IX.
“I’m always amazed at what Mel does and what all of these guys do,” said Hoge, a Steelers running back from 1987 to 1993. “I admire the players that they were and the type of people they are. What an era of Steelers football they belong to.”
Hoge, who said he was meeting Bradshaw for the first time Friday night, was 10 years old when the Steelers won that first Super Bowl.
“To be able to talk with them from a kid perspective tonight is wonderful,” Hoge said. “I remember they won and I was happy that going to school the next day was going to be so much better.”
“We are so proud. And we don’t take it for granted that we have this platform to take it and use it in a positive way to affect young people,” Blount said.
Courtesy of Alysa Rubin | Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers alumni honor the Super Bowl IX team at the annual Mel Blount Celebrity Roast on Friday.
Bradshaw and Blount were integral parts of what the Steelers built in the 1970s. Bradshaw was the No. 1 draft pick in 1970 and Blount the No. 3 pick.
“We played our entire career together, retired the same year and went into the Hall of Fame together,” Blount said. “We both love horses and have been friends since day one.”
Bradshaw was the event’s first master of ceremonies, so it was fitting he return for this celebration, TiAnda Blount said.
“I don’t know who has the bigger heart, Mel or Terry,” she said.
Blount recalled when the Steelers returned to Pittsburgh after winning that first title. They were greeted by fans that swarmed the old Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. Thousands more lined the Parkway West to see the buses filled with players and coaches roll past. Downtown was packed, too.
“We didn’t have social media to capture that moment,” Blount said. “What we had back then was perfect for the times in which we they were in. It was just us and the fans and our memories.
“What I remember most — not about the game, but about the fans — is that when we got off of that plane in Pittsburgh, there were fans lined up along the parkway all the way from the airport to Downtown Pittsburgh. It was just a beautiful thing to see.”
Now that plane story was real.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region’s diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of “A Daughter’s Promise.” She can be reached at [email protected].
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