Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and Pittsburgh Steelers legend Terry Bradshaw saved the day for a group of travelers stuck on a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport. Bradshaw was sitting front row on a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth on Thursday and upon landing, the door was stuck and would not open, per Ricky Sayer of KDKA.
The door remained stuck for half an hour. The 76-year-old Bradshaw forced it open.
“The pilot announced, and you could kind of hear he was chuckling as he said it, but he said, ‘thanks to the strength of one of our passengers, we were finally able to get the door open’ and I think we all knew he was alluding to Mr. Bradshaw,” traveler Selah Gamble told Sayer.
“I mean honestly I was just ready to get off the flight, but the guy next to me had made the joke that they should have him bust down the door and I was like, well maybe he could a few years ago, so I’m definitely eating my words.”
Bradshaw, the four-time Super Bowl champion, was arriving to Pittsburgh for former teammate Mel Blount‘s Youth Home All-Star Celebrity Roast Friday night. The dinner marks 50 years since Bradshaw led the Steelers to their first of six Super Bowl wins in 1975.
Bradshaw has a new story to tell. So does Gamble and the other passengers.
“Definitely a good one for family dinners and parties and all that, that’ll be my new story,” Gamble said.
Bradshaw retired after the 1983 NFL season and transitioned into broadcasting the following year with CBS Sports. He joined FOX Sports in 1994 and has been with the network since. Bradshaw said in February he would like to work one last Super Bowl at FOX Sports and then retire. The next Super Bowl broadcast on FOX is 2029.
“I told my wife before I left the hotel room, I was sitting there, I said, ‘I’ve got two years left at FOX. I’m 76,’” Bradshaw said. “It’s a young man’s game. I get that. Everybody wants their new [people]. I said, if we can get to the next Super Bowl, I’ll be 80. I think that’s time. That’s pushing it.”
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