The two big TBs of the league, Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady, share a bond that goes beyond football. Both enjoyed massive success as a quarterback before starting their careers as a broadcaster. But brace yourselves for the big surprise.

Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman shared the locker room with TB12 at the Patriots. But on December 13, they sat down for Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules podcast and revealed a hilarious story involving the Steelers legend. Edelman revealed the 1983 story and said, “In 1983, he needed to get an elbow surgery. He didn’t want it to be in the papers, so he used an alias name at the Louisiana hospital. You know what that name was?” Gronk then replied, “Tom (Fricken) Brady.” Shocked? Everyone who heard this story was stunned.

However, both NFL stars then dived into their alias names when necessary. Gronk guessed if Edelman would use the name “Danny Amendola” which he rejected and replied, “Nah I think I would go with Francisco Delaware.” But Gronk’s alias name was super funny as he claimed that he would the name “Bobby Whiskers” as he claimed while pointing to his chin, “Because I got whiskers all over this place right here.” That’s hilarious.

However, Terry Bradshaw made a critical mistake after the surgery. He started throwing two months before his doctor, Dr. Bill Bundrick, advised him. And the injury flared again. He went to the hospital again where Dr. Bundrick used a device namely Acuscope (a micro-amp electrical muscle stimulation device) to give a treatment similar to acupuncture. But the Steelers legend never fully recovered and retired on July 24, 1984.

As far as the story goes, there’s another popular version of the Terry Bradshaw alias saga. It shows that it wasn’t intentional on the legend’s part. Faking the name was purely coincidental.

Did Terry Bradshaw really use Tom Brady’s alias?

According to a 1983 report of the UPI, it wasn’t Bradshaw who came up with the Tom Brady name. Instead, the hospital staff admitted him under the alias name ‘Thomas Brady.’ It was a common practice back then.

According to hospital administrator Charles Boyd, “Many times, we have to admit people under an assumed name or under no name to keep the press and the fans away.” While the versions present a different picture of how the name was used. But no one would have thought that years later, Brady would become the most recognizable in the NFL.

Not only that, Tom Brady broke Terry Bradshaw’s record for most Super Bowl wins in 2015 (he surpassed him by a huge margin winning the title 7 times), but he also found a lifelong supporter in him. Even when the Patriots legend started his broadcasting career, Bradshaw claimed that TB12 was improving with time, saying, “Yeah, I’m working with him now. He’s doing a great job, too, as I like to say, the original TB. But he’s doing really good.” That’s a great comment from an ‘alias’. Hope these two legends continue to entertain football fans.