Leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft, Steelers.com is sharing memories of what the draft was like for several key players in team history.
Those sharing their story were members of the Super Bowl X team or the Super Bowl XL team, both which are celebrating milestones this year. It will be the 50th Anniversary of Super Bowl X and the 20th Anniversary of Super Bowl XL, two very special memories in Steelers history.
In this installment, Hall of Famer and a member of the Super Bowl X team Terry Bradshaw shared his take on what it was like to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft and the one thing he wanted to be doing on that special day.
He also referred to the 'coin flip' between the Steelers and the Chicago Bears, who both had 1-13 records the previous year. The winner of it would get the first overall pick in the draft. Steelers' owner Dan Rooney allowed the Bears to make the call, and they said heads. When it came up tails, the Steelers were able to select Bradshaw.
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In Bradshaw's words:
"The draft was no big deal back then. I thought I would go in the third or fourth round. It wasn't on television. I was going fishing. I had my truck, and I was pulling out of the driveway and my dad stopped me and said where are you going? I told him I was going fishing.
"He told me it was draft day, and he heard from the Bears. I told him I wasn't going until the third or fourth round. He told me you get out and you clean up. I was mad. I went and put on a jacket and tie for my dad. And then I got drafted number one.
"It didn't mean that much. I was coming here to the worst team in the NFL, which wasn't good.
"Like a lot of players, we are looked at so often. The Saints spent so much time with me. Their whole coaching staff would come to (Louisiana) Tech and watch me practice and to games. You are naive enough to think nobody else is coming and watching. You think they are the only ones that care anything about me.
"I was told by our college coaching staff maybe late second round, third round. There was some talk about moving up. And the Pittsburgh thing. And then the coin flip.
"My dad had received a phone call earlier that morning from the (Bears) Halas family saying they were trying to make a trade for me. I didn't find out about this until later. Then my dad talked to the Steelers, and they said they weren't going to trade and keep the rights. It was just mumbo-jumbo to me. You figure out what you are going to do, and I am going to go fishing."
