Terry Bradshaw gets a little help from his friend in preparation for a day on the water. (Photo by Matt Williams)
Casting Call: Terry Bradshaw
Life after football involves NASCAR, fishing
12.Jul.2005
Terry Bradshaw fired a bullet at the decorative wooden bridge and the ¼-ounce spinnerbait landed right on its mark. The bait ricocheted off a support piling then began a slow descent into the green depths of the neatly manicured stock pond.
The former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback was hoping a 10-pound largemouth bass would dart beneath the bait and scoop it up, sort of like Franco Harris did when he hauled in the “Immaculate Reception” in the final seconds of the Steelers’ AFC Divisional playoff match-up against the Oakland Raiders in 1972.
“She lives right there,” said Bradshaw, pointing his rod tip towards the shaded piling. “I sank a big tree top down there several years ago. It is one of my sweet spots that I don’t show to very many people.”
Bradshaw’s pet bass wasn’t at home on that warm April afternoon at the 12 Ranch in Westlake, Texas. But Tim Fedewa did manage to strike up a serious business deal with one of his fat cats.
“Fish on!” Bradshaw yelled, as he saw Fedewa’s rod doubled over. “Hang on, Tim. I’m on the way.”
Fedewa probably could have handled the 4-pound channel cat on his own. But with the Busch Series O’Reilly 300 just two days away, Bradshaw wasn’t having any of it.
Fedewa was scheduled to make the rounds at the Texas Motor Speedway in the Supercuts/Hot Tamales Dodge Charger, one of the three Busch Series racecars the two-time Super Bowl MVP co-owns with Armando Fitz. A sharp fin in the hand might hamper the promising young racecar driver’s style.
Fedewa wrestled the catfish to shore and Bradshaw promptly removed it from the hook.
“Good job,” he said, patting Fedewa on the back. “Now, get back out there and catch another one.”
A joint venture between two guys who enjoy mixing some fun with their financial success, FitzBradshaw Racing evolved four years ago after the two men met at the 2001 Daytona 500.
There was a strong push for celebrity involvement in NASCAR in those days, and Fitz eventually got ambitious about finding himself a famous partner who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty.
Bradshaw is a 56-year-old Fox Sports personality and four time all-pro quarterback who called his own plays and directed the Steelers to four Super Bowl titles and eight AFC Central Division titles. But it wasn’t his household name that sealed the deal. Rather, it was a golden work ethic that is geared for winning and a serious passion for one of the world’s fastest growing spectator sports.
“I’m a true NASCAR fan,” Bradshaw said. “But I wasn’t interested in just having my name on something. I wanted to be involved – to work at it. That’s what Armando was looking for. We became good friends and we have been partners ever since.”
Like any sports franchise, FitzBradshaw Racing started small and worked its way up. The organization opened the 2002 season with one team and has since added two more to form the largest franchise in Busch Series racing.
The cars include No. 12, sponsored by Supercuts/Hot Tamales; No. 14, sponsored by Navy; and No. 40, sponsored by Jani-King, Cottman Transmissions and Goulds Pumps.
“It’s been tough, but it has been fun,” Bradshaw said. “This business has its ups and downs, just like any other. You get out of it what you put into it.”
As much as he enjoys life in the fast lane, Bradshaw was quick to admit that he can never get back home soon enough, so he can enjoy a round of golf or check on his budding herd of halter class American quarter horses. But he is truly in his element with a spinning outfit in hand, walking the banks of one of the many lakes he built on his property and stocked with largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, bluegill, shad and crawfish.
He’s choosy about his fishing partners, though. Among his favorites are his two daughters, Rachel (17), Erin (15), and his dad, Bill.
Bradshaw feeds his fish artificial lures on occasion. But he usually resorts to live bait and a cork to accommodate the beating he took as an NFL quarterback and his insatiable craving for constant action.
“I just like to catch fish, I don’t care if it weighs half a pound or 10 pounds,” Bradshaw said, his blue eyes twinkling in the afternoon sun. “But I can’t do a lot of casting. I can work a jig or a worm, but not for long, especially if the big ones are biting. Those big bass make everything hurt after a while.”
Bradshaw comes by his passion for fishing naturally. The second of three sons born to Bill and Novis Bradshaw of Shreveport, La., he was raised hunting and fishing in some of Louisiana’s most remote backwater bayous, oxbows and rivers.
He cut his fishing teeth with a fly rod he bought with money earned cutting yards and doing other chores. His first rod and reel was a spin-cast outfit that he paid for by peddling Christmas cards door-to-door.
“I have always loved fishing,” Bradshaw said. “My mom never had to worry when she got up Saturday mornings and found me already gone. I was usually at a place called Sevats Pond. I remember raking the pine needles away from the trees and finding giant earthworms and using them to catch some of the biggest bluegill you have ever seen.”
Although Bradshaw eventually shifted his focus to other sports like track, baseball and football, he continued to fish through it all.
In fact, when the 6-3, 210-pound rifle arm out of Louisiana Tech went to the Steelers as the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick in 1970, the first thing he bought with his bonus money was a bass boat. The 14-footer was powered by a 25-horsepower Evinrude.
Today, the Emmy-winning Fox Sports analyst could afford to put a new Ranger Z-Comanche in a hanger on each of his stock tanks if he wanted to. But truth be known, he had much rather fish from the bank.
“That way I can walk down there and wet a hook anytime,” Bradshaw said. “If the fish aren’t biting, I can be back at the house in 90 seconds and go back later if I want to.”
Bradshaw currently has two fish-filled ponds behind the iron gates of his Metroplex ranchette and a pair of 4 1/2-acre lakes on a 500-acre ranch he owns in southern Oklahoma. But plans are in the works to combine a new, 8-acre lake with one of the 4 1/2-acre tanks before the year’s end. He also intends to build his own hatchery.
On the surface, the 12-acre lake won’t look like anything special. But its bottom will be a mirror image of what Bradshaw thinks the perfect fishing lake should be.
“When I build a lake, I like to build it so it will be as productive as it can possibly be,” he said. “It will have plenty of depth (about 35 feet) to keep the shad alive in the coldest winter and it will be full of humps, ditches, brush piles, tree tops and anything else that makes good structure and cover for the fish. There won’t be much wasted space, either. The whole lake will be ‘fishable.’”
Bradshaw’s affection for stock tanks has links to his formative years as kid who grew up in the 1950s fishing small Louisiana waters. But his obsession with building mini lakes has close ties to a discovery he made nearly two decades ago when he went snooping around on an old farm that joins his plush estate in the rolling hills of northeast Parker County.
“I found this huge lake back there,” Bradshaw said. “It had three creeks running into it and it was real deep. It was one of those places that looked like it should be full of fish.”
Bradshaw’s first attempt at fishing the 15-acre lake was one he won’t soon forget. It was December and a winter cold front had just waltzed across north Texas. He was accompanied on the mission by one of his brothers.
“I tried to drag a boat back there while my brother carried our rods and bait, but I just couldn’t make it – it was too far,” Bradshaw said. “I left the boat laying in the middle of the pasture and we ended up fishing from the bank. We built a fire on the dam and sat there all day long catching 3- to 5-pound bass. It was incredible.”
Realizing he was onto something special, Bradshaw quickly located the landowner and leased the 520-acre tract to run a few cows. He also secured exclusive fishing rights to the lake in exchange for managing it.
The ex-Steeler obviously called the right plays. The lake eventually produced several bass topping 10 pounds, including a 13-pound, 3-ounce lunker.
Not surprisingly, Bradshaw kept the whereabouts of the golden pond close to the vest until residential developments blitzed him right out of the pocket. Today, portions of the lake are flanked by fancy homes.
Bradshaw can only chuckle when he catches wind of an occasional rumor that some kid in the neighborhood caught an 8- or 9-pound bass out of the lake or got his line broke.
“I was pretty reluctant about taking anyone back there except my daughters and other family members,” Bradshaw said. “It was one of those special fishing spots that is better off kept a secret. I kept it that way as long as I could.”
The former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback was hoping a 10-pound largemouth bass would dart beneath the bait and scoop it up, sort of like Franco Harris did when he hauled in the “Immaculate Reception” in the final seconds of the Steelers’ AFC Divisional playoff match-up against the Oakland Raiders in 1972.
“She lives right there,” said Bradshaw, pointing his rod tip towards the shaded piling. “I sank a big tree top down there several years ago. It is one of my sweet spots that I don’t show to very many people.”
Bradshaw’s pet bass wasn’t at home on that warm April afternoon at the 12 Ranch in Westlake, Texas. But Tim Fedewa did manage to strike up a serious business deal with one of his fat cats.
Fedewa probably could have handled the 4-pound channel cat on his own. But with the Busch Series O’Reilly 300 just two days away, Bradshaw wasn’t having any of it.
Fedewa was scheduled to make the rounds at the Texas Motor Speedway in the Supercuts/Hot Tamales Dodge Charger, one of the three Busch Series racecars the two-time Super Bowl MVP co-owns with Armando Fitz. A sharp fin in the hand might hamper the promising young racecar driver’s style.
Fedewa wrestled the catfish to shore and Bradshaw promptly removed it from the hook.
“Good job,” he said, patting Fedewa on the back. “Now, get back out there and catch another one.”
A joint venture between two guys who enjoy mixing some fun with their financial success, FitzBradshaw Racing evolved four years ago after the two men met at the 2001 Daytona 500.
There was a strong push for celebrity involvement in NASCAR in those days, and Fitz eventually got ambitious about finding himself a famous partner who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty.
Like any sports franchise, FitzBradshaw Racing started small and worked its way up. The organization opened the 2002 season with one team and has since added two more to form the largest franchise in Busch Series racing.
The cars include No. 12, sponsored by Supercuts/Hot Tamales; No. 14, sponsored by Navy; and No. 40, sponsored by Jani-King, Cottman Transmissions and Goulds Pumps.
“It’s been tough, but it has been fun,” Bradshaw said. “This business has its ups and downs, just like any other. You get out of it what you put into it.”
He’s choosy about his fishing partners, though. Among his favorites are his two daughters, Rachel (17), Erin (15), and his dad, Bill.
Bradshaw feeds his fish artificial lures on occasion. But he usually resorts to live bait and a cork to accommodate the beating he took as an NFL quarterback and his insatiable craving for constant action.
“I just like to catch fish, I don’t care if it weighs half a pound or 10 pounds,” Bradshaw said, his blue eyes twinkling in the afternoon sun. “But I can’t do a lot of casting. I can work a jig or a worm, but not for long, especially if the big ones are biting. Those big bass make everything hurt after a while.”
Bradshaw comes by his passion for fishing naturally. The second of three sons born to Bill and Novis Bradshaw of Shreveport, La., he was raised hunting and fishing in some of Louisiana’s most remote backwater bayous, oxbows and rivers.
“I have always loved fishing,” Bradshaw said. “My mom never had to worry when she got up Saturday mornings and found me already gone. I was usually at a place called Sevats Pond. I remember raking the pine needles away from the trees and finding giant earthworms and using them to catch some of the biggest bluegill you have ever seen.”
Although Bradshaw eventually shifted his focus to other sports like track, baseball and football, he continued to fish through it all.
In fact, when the 6-3, 210-pound rifle arm out of Louisiana Tech went to the Steelers as the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick in 1970, the first thing he bought with his bonus money was a bass boat. The 14-footer was powered by a 25-horsepower Evinrude.
Today, the Emmy-winning Fox Sports analyst could afford to put a new Ranger Z-Comanche in a hanger on each of his stock tanks if he wanted to. But truth be known, he had much rather fish from the bank.
“That way I can walk down there and wet a hook anytime,” Bradshaw said. “If the fish aren’t biting, I can be back at the house in 90 seconds and go back later if I want to.”
Bradshaw currently has two fish-filled ponds behind the iron gates of his Metroplex ranchette and a pair of 4 1/2-acre lakes on a 500-acre ranch he owns in southern Oklahoma. But plans are in the works to combine a new, 8-acre lake with one of the 4 1/2-acre tanks before the year’s end. He also intends to build his own hatchery.
On the surface, the 12-acre lake won’t look like anything special. But its bottom will be a mirror image of what Bradshaw thinks the perfect fishing lake should be.
Bradshaw’s affection for stock tanks has links to his formative years as kid who grew up in the 1950s fishing small Louisiana waters. But his obsession with building mini lakes has close ties to a discovery he made nearly two decades ago when he went snooping around on an old farm that joins his plush estate in the rolling hills of northeast Parker County.
“I found this huge lake back there,” Bradshaw said. “It had three creeks running into it and it was real deep. It was one of those places that looked like it should be full of fish.”
Bradshaw’s first attempt at fishing the 15-acre lake was one he won’t soon forget. It was December and a winter cold front had just waltzed across north Texas. He was accompanied on the mission by one of his brothers.
“I tried to drag a boat back there while my brother carried our rods and bait, but I just couldn’t make it – it was too far,” Bradshaw said. “I left the boat laying in the middle of the pasture and we ended up fishing from the bank. We built a fire on the dam and sat there all day long catching 3- to 5-pound bass. It was incredible.”
The ex-Steeler obviously called the right plays. The lake eventually produced several bass topping 10 pounds, including a 13-pound, 3-ounce lunker.
Not surprisingly, Bradshaw kept the whereabouts of the golden pond close to the vest until residential developments blitzed him right out of the pocket. Today, portions of the lake are flanked by fancy homes.
Bradshaw can only chuckle when he catches wind of an occasional rumor that some kid in the neighborhood caught an 8- or 9-pound bass out of the lake or got his line broke.
“I was pretty reluctant about taking anyone back there except my daughters and other family members,” Bradshaw said. “It was one of those special fishing spots that is better off kept a secret. I kept it that way as long as I could.”
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