Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductions : Bradshaw Won’t Let a Controversy Spoil ‘Greatest Day of Life’

CANTON, Ohio —  Terry Bradshaw, never one to avoid controversy, jumped right into one at his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday.

The former Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback was criticized for choosing his CBS Sports television partner, Verne Lundquist, to be his presenter, rather than a former coach or teammate.

“It’s the greatest day of my life and I get nailed down here,” Bradshaw said at a news conference before the induction ceremonies. “What’s with you people? My choice is very simple. For all you Pittsburghers, listen one more time and see if you all can’t get this through your head.

“(Former Steeler owner) Art Rooney is gone. He was my presenter, but he’s dead, people. That’s the only person that would have represented me. The reason is, he and I were close. And I’m the type of person, in an event like this, that I’m not going to have some athlete or coach present me who I’m not going to see ever again.”

Bradshaw said he selected Lundquist because “I want someone I was close to.”

Bradshaw, Mel Blount, Art Shell and Willie Wood knew the joy of winning when they starred in the National Football League.

They shared that feeling again at the induction. “I loved winning. I didn’t care. I just wanted to win,” Bradshaw said when asked how he wanted to be remembered. “I’d like people to say nothing else but, ‘That sucker just loved to win.’ That would cover it pretty good.”

The same could be said for the other three inductees.

Bradshaw was the quarterback and Blount a cornerback as Pittsburgh won four Super Bowl championships. Willie Wood was at safety as Green Bay won two Super Bowls. Shell played tackle as the Raiders won two Super Bowls.

The Packers dominated the 1960s. The Steelers won their four Super Bowls in the 1970s and 1980s. And the Raiders had a higher winning percentage than any pro sports franchise over those years.

“One of the great things about the Steelers is that we drew strength from one another,” Bradshaw said. “It wasn’t a black guy you drew it from. It was a group of men who had a lot of respect for one another, who had a lot of talent and who had a lot of love of the game.”

Blount intercepted 57 passes and recovered 13 opposing fumbles during his 14-year career. He is currently director of player relations in the NFL office.

Blount was presented by Dan Rooney, president of the Steelers.

“I wanted to go to a lousy team to establish an identity,” Bradshaw said. “I didn’t know anything about the Steelers, I’d never seen them play. They were losers. That was good. I said, ‘Hey, I like this.’ ”

Bradshaw, a 6-foot-3, 210-pounder out of Louisiana Tech, completed 2,025 of his 3,901 career passes for almost 16 miles in yardage. He threw for 212 touchdowns.

He was most valuable player in the 1979 and 1980 Super Bowls.

Shell was a pillar for 15 years for the Raiders. A third-round draft pick out of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1968, the 6-5, 285-pounder played in eight Pro Bowls.

Shell said he appreciated the “Raider way” because diverse personalities could still come together for a common goal.

“You could be a renegade or a nice guy. They didn’t try to program us. Be yourself, be a man,” Shell said. “They would allow you to be yourself. We had (Ted) Hendricks and (John) Matuszak. They’d do wild things. But on Sunday, we came to play. We came to play as one. We were a team.”

Shell pointed to Raider owner Al Davis, who presented him at the induction ceremonies, and said, “He’s the reason I’m here. He took a chance on a small kid--I mean a kid from a small college--and showed me a lot of patience. I had a lot to learn.”

Said Wood: “I was just satisfied to be a Green Bay Packer and having all the success we had as Packers. Being in the Hall of Fame, that was something that was beyond my wildest dreams.”

Wood came out of USC as an unheralded backup quarterback and defensive back. Undrafted, he signed as a free agent with the Packers after a friend’s letter-writing campaign on his behalf.

Wood, who intercepted 48 passes between 1960 and 1971, said he only wished that his late coach, Vince Lombardi, were present for his induction.

“When I first walked into the Packer camp, there was no doubt who was in charge,” Wood said. “The first time I met Vince Lombardi, he scared the hell out of me. And I’ve been shaking ever since.”

Wood played 12 seasons, including Super Bowl champion clubs in 1967 and 1968. Wood was presented by his second head coach with the Packers, Phil Bengtson.