“Looking for Terry: A Memoir” by Terry Bradshaw with David Fisher

c.2026, HarperCollins Leadership, $29.99, 272 pages

Less than two minutes left, the quarterback has the ball. Will he pass it?

He runs down the field, avoiding every opposing player who’s chasing him. You’re out of your chair, screaming, as he cradles the ball next to his ribs, full-out sprinting. Will he make the touchdown? Will he get hit, or fumble? Argh, or will he play, then find a new career, as in the new book “Looking for Terry: A Memoir” by Terry Bradshaw with David Fisher?

Terry Bradshaw is not dumb.

That rumor plagued him on and off throughout his life, he hated it, and he says it hurt him. People obviously thought it was funny, but it was not; eventually, though, he used the badgering to his advantage in an if-you-can’t-beat-’em, join-’em kind of way.

Bradshaw says that football has always been his “passion.” He always loved to throw things, rocks, javelins, even frozen snowballs, after his family moved from Shreveport to a small town in Iowa. A few years later, the family moved back to Louisiana, and that’s where Bradshaw’s love of football took off like a 90-yard pass.

Eventually it did, anyhow. Bradshaw said he did a lot of bench-sitting, and that was frustrating. He just wanted to play, in high school, in college, as a first-round pick in the NFL draft, at four Super Bowl-winning games. But playing meant injury, which usually was no big deal to Bradshaw until one injury made him quit his beloved Steelers – though he says he might still be on the disabled list, so maybe they’ll call him to play this weekend...

Anchorless after leaving the team, he bought a ranch that put him in debt but he enjoyed his cows. He loved and lost and loved again. And then one day, he returned an overdue phone call that changed his life: would he like to be a football broadcaster?

Bradshaw says he’d never thought about it. He’d been talking about football almost since he could talk. Could he actually get paid for it?

Terry Bradshaw might be a prankster. He loves to joke around, he admits to a big sense of humor, but “Looking for Terry” should lay to rest those old rumors about his intelligence. Author Bradshaw ain’t no dummy.

What he is, is honest – about his favorite things, his love life, his animals, his career choices, and his sport. And on that note, readers may be surprised that football, despite being Bradshaw’s “passion,” is only about half the story. Bradshaw talks about his faith in great detail. He and David Fisher write about his parents and his childhood with appealing fondness. He doesn’t make scandal or add unnecessary drama, but he’s truthful about his four marriages and the mistakes he feels he made. He’s grateful, thankful and humble and funny. There’s lots of funny in this book.

Fans are gonna eat that up, as will anyone who enjoys Bradshaw on Sunday afternoons. If that’s you, or if you’re up for a good memoir, look for “Looking for Terry.” Do not pass.