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* Photo credit: Skeeter Hagler

Goodwill’s No-Holds-Barred “The Lunch” Talk With Fox NFL Sunday’s Terry Bradshaw And Howie Long Was Savory

Oct 29, 2026 5:30 PM By Glenn Hunter Leave a Comment

Since its launch in 2015, the annual marquee fundraiser for Goodwill Industries of Dallas Inc. called The Lunch has developed a reputation for showcasing the candid thoughts of some heavyweight sports talent.

Think former NFL star quarterbacks Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, ex-Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn and ESPN play-by-play announcer Joe Buck.

The 2026 iteration of the event kept up the tradition on Friday, October 2, at the Omni Dallas Hotel, where the program featured a keynote conversation between Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long. The two are Pro Football Hall of Famers —Terry as a four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Howie as a Super Bowl-winning defensive end for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders. The two also are longtime co-hosts of TV’s Fox NFL Sunday program.

What proved to be a no-holds-barred talk between the irrepressible, cowboy-boot-wearing Bradshaw and the more reserved Long was revealing, sometimes irreverant — and always entertaining. Howie believes that Jimmy Johnson, had he not called it quits, would have won two additional Super Bowls coaching the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, for example. Terry is afraid he’ll be fired from the Sunday show and thinks NIL money has “ruined” college football. Neither sounds like a great fan of the NFL’s global markets program.

Presented by Energy Transfer and titled “Together for Good,” this year’s Lunch was co-chaired by Sarah and Clayton Kennington and attracted 800 guests to the Omni’s Trinity Ballroom. Among the attendees were Katherine Wyker, Dylan Bramhall, Tom Long, Kathryn Cassidy (she chairs the Goodwill Dallas board), David Miller, Peter Lodwick, Tucker Bridwell and Cowboys Hall of Famer Cliff Harris.

Goodwill Dallas President and CEO Tim Heis kicked off the event with welcoming remarks, noting that the non-profit employs 1,100 people — half of whom self-identify with barriers to employment — across 20 stores and 13 attended donation centers.

Following an invocation by Rev. Matt Tuggle of Highland Park United Methodist Church, a video was shown focusing on “Debbie,” a woman who was born with visual impairment, but gained confidence and work skills through Goodwill’s Empowerment Works program. Today, with the help of Goodwill staff, Debbie has achieved a lifelong goal: pursuing a career at Luby’s, where her mother once worked.

Sarah spoke next, explaining how she and Clayton had come to select the luncheon theme. “When we chose ‘Together for Good’ as this year’s theme, we wanted to reflect something we see again and again through Goodwill,” she said. “Hard work matters, but so does opportunity. Debbie did the hard work to get where she is today. But along the way, there were people who recognized her potential, opened doors and offered support to help keep her moving forward. That is what ‘together for good’ means to us.”

As guests settled in to enjoy their lunch — poached pear salad, chicken roulade and a lemon vanilla cake or a strawberry/chocolate parfait — Clayton announced that the event was just $135,000 shy of its $1.4 million fundraising goal. Then he brought Terry and Howie onstage for their talk, which would be moderated by NBC 5  (KXAS) journalist Laura Harris.

Following are a few of the highlights from their freewheeling exchange:

On how the two prepare for — and think about — their Fox NFL Sunday show. Terry said, “Normally, I fly home on Monday [after Sunday’s game], and on the way home I’ve already starting looking at [the next game]. Tuesday I get Sunday’s notes, all the highlights, and then on Thursday I get more notes. Then on Thursday afternoon we get a text or email from our producer and he says, ‘Here’s what we’re going to talk about.’ Then Howie and I will call. I’ll say, ‘There are 19 things here! Narrow it down a little bit, will you?’ Then we narrow it down to four topics, and go to it. … It’s an hour show, and we may make three or four comments that are related to all our studies. Howie looks at a lot of tape, and I don’t look at anything. I hate tape! Then, for each of our three or four comments, you’ve got max 20 seconds.” Howie chimed in, “Everybody’s different. I just can’t get enough of everything. I want to hear everything; I want to see it. And my thing is, if you’re on TV and you’re going to be critical of something, you should see it. I don’t want to read about it. I don’t want to hear about it from somebody else who has a perspective. Nowadays it’s interesting, because we’ve been together 33 years, and neither one of us know how to get on X, or whatever. And I keep waiting every year and thinking that somebody’s going to beat us.” Joked Terry: “I know! I’m 78, and when you’re my age, you know, you get a Timex, and out the door you go! And so I say to Howie, ‘I just turned 78 years old. They’re gonna kick my butt out now.’ … And Howie says, ‘Well, maybe [we’ll do] a little ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’!” 

The two talked about the pressures of performing on live television, where there are serious consequences for talking longer than your allotted time. “If you mess up, it’s brutal — brutal,” Howie said. Added Terry: “I mess up names. You ever try to mention a bunch of Ha-wye-yan names when they slide ’em across? Oh, I got Huna-tuna Na-fah-la-hal-la?!” Said Howie: “It’s hard to do with the pace. Sometimes he gets these handed to him right before. I tell the people in the back, ‘Spell it out phonetically and do it right! When you screw the phonetics, he’s got no shot.'” Said Terry: “I will go into commercial break still trying to pronounce it correctly. It burns my you-know-what. But, those people have got to get a nickname or something. I mean, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has now become JSN.”

The conversation turned to former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, who first joined the Fox Sunday show in 1994 before leaving two years later. (Johnson returned to the show in 2002 before retiring last year.) “He was a piece of work when he first started, because Howie and I would say, “Hey, there’s no way this boy is staying for the full ride here,’ ” Terry said with a laugh. “So, Jimmy’s up there, and Jimmy’s not ‘with us,’ like he was the second time he came, where he just totally submitted to us. He was not like that at all [the first year]. And so Howie was sitting on the desk, and we’re live … [and we’re trying to figure out whose turn it was to talk, because we’d gotten off track]. Howie said, “Here’s the way the show works out: You’re assigned a slot and, yeah, we had gotten off [into] kind of slop. So, I [was gesturing]: Whose turn is it?! And Jimmy thought we were making fun of him. He turned into the Jimmy you guys came to know in Dallas back in the day, and he stormed off to his dressing room pouting — kind of the quarterback at the show.” Terry said, “I went, I gotta go back here and fix this — apologize for something, but I don’t know what! So I went back to his dressing room and went in, and he was steaming! I said, ‘Hey, coach, I don’t know what’s got you upset.’ And he said, ‘I don’t want anybody making fun of me while I’m talking.’ I went, ‘Nobody was making fun of you.’ He said, ‘Well, Howie’s over there trying to mess with me.’ I said, ‘Howie was not trying to mess with you. Howie was asking with his hands, ‘Who’s next?’ Because we got off track… we got lost.’ Normally they’ll come in your ear and [explain everything], but that didn’t happen. So I stayed back there a good 20 minutes, trying to patch things up with him — and I didn’t patch things up with him!  Ask Jerry Jones. Do you patch things up with Jimmy? Come on!” Added Howie: “Jimmy retired [from coaching] prematurely. I think maybe [the Cowboys] probably would have won another one or two championships [with him as coach], for sure. But the bottom line is, he wasn’t ready to be a TV guy, and he didn’t want to be a TV guy. It was just something to do. It was more of kind of a job, and he was mad.”

Laura asked Terry about the “Immaculate Reception” — the last-minute pass he threw in a 1972 AFC divisional playoff game between the Steelers and Raiders that’s been called the greatest play in NFL history. Bradshaw’s fourth-down pass was intended for Steelers running back John Fuqua, but by the officials’ account bounced off Raiders safety Jack Tatum before Pittsburgh fullback Franco Harris snagged it and ran for the game-winning touchdown. “The pass was simple. We called it a full right split,” Terry said. “Tight ends to the right and two backs. There was no reason to call that play. I’d already called everything I [had] to call, and it was like, just grab a play and go with it! The tight end has to block. Franco has to block. And when I drop back, Franco missed his guy. Surprise! I had to go to the right to get away from [a defender] and when I got over there, there was somebody else coming, and he reached for me, and I put my arm up like this to avoid [him]. … I saw a black jersey going across the field. I just threw it to him. I had no clue who that was at the time. I went down on the ground.” Howie asked, “You didn’t see the catch?” “No,” Terry said. “I heard it, though. I heard the roar, and quarterbacks know that roar. That’s a touchdown roar, Jack! … When I got the full story [later, about the deflection off Tatum], I was sick to my stomach. I was so upset that we scored on a ‘fluke.’ I mean, I thought I’d put it right there.”

The pair were asked by Laura about the effect of NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) money on college football players. “I hate it,” Terry replied. “I can’t stand it. I think it’s ruined college football. It’s ruined it because the fan base falls in love with with SMU Mustangs, say, and they’ve got a player there that’s a freshman that’s just fabulous. And then he enters the transfer portal, because he wants money. And then that guy leaves, and somebody else gets it, and then he leaves! How do you build up a fan base when they’re here and then they’re gone?” Howie said,  “I’m a fan of the players getting paid. But that being said, like Terry said, the floodgates have been opened. I always felt like it should be based on a kind of sliding scale, based on need. Whatever the need was, you got more money; if you didn’t have a need, you got less.” Added Terry: “The NIL has taken a lot of these kids away from the fact that to go to college, you truly are there to get an education. I went back after my rookie year for one class so I could graduate. Now it has nothing to do about education. And I agree with Howie. Yeah, I would have liked to make some more. I went to college my senior year with $500. I worked the pipeline. When I came out of my rookie year in football, my rookie year with Pittsburgh, I went to sell used cars because I didn’t have any money.” Said Howie: “My check my rookie year was $1,007, after taxes. My son made $42 million in his first contract.” 

Laura asked how Terry and Howie feel about the NFL’s international push (the Cowboys had recently played a game, which they lost, against the Baltimore Ravens in Brazil). “Who wants 12 hours to go down there?” Terry said. “I wouldn’t. Nor do I want to go to London. I don’t care anything about it.” Howie seemed to agree: “You get off the plane, and [all of a sudden] you’re hitting people. It’s hard to do.” Said Terry: “They’re trying to turn our game international [in order to grow the sport]. The Jerry Joneses of the world, the Robert Krafts of the world, and all the owners: It’s all money, more money, more money, more money. So, you’re telling me you’re going to go to all these countries? Oh, that’s great. So, what’s your purpose? International games sell more stuff. TV rights. You’re going to move a part of the league over there? You’re going to have an international team? Then you’ll truly have a world champion. They’ll play a world title. Then we’ll have one. It would come together. Is that the plan down the road?” Said Howie: “I think so.” 

* Photo provided by Goodwill Industries of Dallas

* Graphic/photo provided by Women's Council Of The Dallas Arboretum