BRADLEY, BILL

born , July 28, 1943, Crystal City, Mo., U.S. in full William Warren Bradley collegiate and professional basketball player who became a Democratic U.S. senator. Bradley began to play basketball at the age of nine and became one of the best players in Missouri high school basketball history. At Princeton University, Bradley, a forward, was a playmaker and high scorer, averaging 30.1 points a game during three seasons, in each of which Princeton won the Ivy League championship and Bradley was named an All-American. He was the first basketball player to win the Amateur Athletic Union's Sullivan Award for the amateur athlete of the year (1965). He played on the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. After graduation he deferred a contract offer from the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in order to study at Oxford University (M.A. 1968) as a Rhodes scholar. He joined the Knicks during the 196768 season and played with them until his retirement in 1977. During Bradley's career the Knicks won two NBA championships (1970 and 1973). He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983. Bradley has written two books about his NBA experiences: Life on the Run (1977) covers professional basketball players during two weeks of the 197374 season, and Values of the Game (1998) contains essays in which Bradley reflects on the qualities necessary to succeed at both basketball and life. After his retirement from professional basketball, Bradley immediately turned to politics. Without having held a lesser office he was elected to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 1978 and served three six-year terms. A liberal Democrat, he was known for his work on issues relating to international finance and for his expertise on a range of domestic issues. He chose not to run for reelection for a fourth term and left the Senate in 1996. Bradley announced his candidacy for the U.S. presidency on January 12, 1999. Hoping to beat out Al Gore for the Democratic nomination for president, Bradley's campaign focused on improving Americans' access to health care, improving the educational system, and civil rights. He was in favour of a woman's right to choose abortion and was a proponent of gun control. Additional reading John McPhee, A Sense of Where You Are: A Profile of Bill Bradley at Princeton (1999; originally published as A Sense of Where You Are: A Profile of William Warren Bradley in 1965), is an expansion of a magazine article written by McPhee in 1965.