Brett L. Abrams, “Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017)

Today we are joined by Brett L. Abrams, author of the book Terry Bradshaw: From Super Bowl Champion to Television Personality (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). It is part of a series called Sports Icons and Issues in Popular Culture. Abrams, an archivist of electronic records in Washington. D.C., does more than just document the football career of Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who won four Super Bowl titles during the 1970s with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Abrams goes beyond the nuts and bolts of a successful athletic career and explores Bradshaw’s foray into country and gospel singing, his acting in movies, his adventure as a part owner of a NASCAR team, and finally, his long and successful run as a NFL color commentator and later a studio analyst first for CBS, and then for Fox. Maligned during his playing career for a perceived lack of intelligence—a prejudicial view of Southerners mostly held by people north of the Mason-Dixon line, Bradshaw played off his L’il Abner, good o’l boy image to craft his own niche in the entertainment field. As Abrams writes in this well-researched book, Bradshaw demonstrated what it took for an entertainer to master many of those entertainment industries in the late 20th century. More people may now know Bradshaw as an enthusiastic football analyst, but he is much more than that. Bob D’Angelo is working on his masters degree in history at Southern New Hampshire University. He earned his bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Florida and spent more than three decades as a sportswriter and sports copy editor, including 28 years on the sports copy desk at The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. He can be reached at bdangelo57@gmail.com. For more information, visit Bob D’Angelo’s Books and Blogs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography