Princeton, 1965
• 1965 Academic All-America®
Bill Bradley was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 1988.
Bill Bradley, a native of Crystal City, Mo., was a standout high school basketball player, where he scored 3,068 points during his scholastic career and was twice named All-American. In addition to his athletics, Bradley’s academic credentials earned him 75 college scholarship offers, but he chose to play at Princeton University.
Bradley began setting records for the Tigers his freshmen season when he sank 57 consecutive free throws, a record unmatched at that time. The following season he led the Ivy League in rebounds, field goals, free throws and total points. In a memorable game against Harvard, Bradley scored 51 points, outscoring the Crimson by himself before he was taken out.
As captain of the Tigers during his senior year, Bradley helped Princeton achieve its highest national basketball ranking ever and the Tigers finished third behind UCLA and Michigan in the NCAA tournament.
Bradley scored 2,503 career points at Princeton, averaging 30.2 points per game. In 1965, Bradley became the first basketball player chosen as winner of the James E. Sullivan Award, presented to the United States' top amateur athlete in the country. In each of Bradley's varsity seasons, the Tigers captured the Ivy League championship and he was named a three-time All-American and the 1965 National Player of the Year.
After graduating with honors, Bradley was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship at Worcester College, University of Oxford. After concluding his studies at Oxford, Bradley didn’t leave the court. He served as captain of the Gold Medal-winning U.S. Olympic basketball team in 1964, played professional basketball briefly in Italy and joined the New York Knicks.
Bradley helped the Knicks win National Basketball Association championships in 1970 and 1973. He was the first player ever to win an Olympic Gold Medal, a European Champions Cup, and an NBA championship ring. After retiring from basketball in 1977, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
During his NBA career, Bradley was more than just a player, he used his time off the court to make connections with journalists, government officials, academics, business people and social activists. He also worked as an assistant to the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington, D.C.
In 1978, Bradley won a United States Senate seat in New Jersey. Although a vocal supporter of the left, Bradley sometimes broke ranks with his party to support the Reagan administration. After leaving the Senate, Bradley ran in the 2000 presidential primaries, opposing incumbent Vice President Al Gore for his party's nomination. Despite Gore being considered the party favorite, Bradley did receive several high-profile endorsements.
Bradley served as chief outside advisor to McKinsey & Company's non-profit practice. In addition to his 1976 book Life on the Run, which chronicled his experiences in the NBA and the people he met along the way, Bradley's book The New American Storywas released on March 27, 2007.