Bill Bradley
Basketball star; U.S. Senator; author
Born: July 28, 1943, in Crystal City, Missouri
Attended: Princeton University
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2008: Sports
Had he never played another minute of basketball after graduating from Princeton University, Bill Bradley would likely be in the New Jersey Hall of Fame. If he had done nothing but star on the New York Knicks for 10 years, he certainly would be in the New Jersey Hall of Fame. And if he was renowned only for his three terms as U.S. Senator from New Jersey, he definitely would be in the New Jersey Hall of Fame. But Bill Bradley achieved all of that and more, so it’s no surprise he was inducted into the very first class of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Raised in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, Bradley is the son of a bank-president father and a schoolteacher mother who had played basketball in high school. He began shooting hoops as a young boy and became a standout player at Crystal City High School. Twice named a high school All-American, Bradley enrolled in Princeton University with an eye on a career in the foreign service.
At Princeton, Bradley was an instant star, averaging more than 30 points a game for the freshman team. He became a varsity starter at forward as a sophomore and was named to the Sporting News All-American first team. Lauded as the top sophomore player in the country, Bradley also hit .316 as a first baseman for Princeton’s baseball varsity. An All-American again as a junior, he was selected for the U.S. Olympic basketball team, which went on to win Gold at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
As a senior and team captain, Bradley led Princeton to the NCAA Final Four; the Tigers lost to Michigan in the semi-finals, but Bradley was named Final Four MVP. Respected for his work ethic and commitment to endless practice, Bradley completed his Princeton career with a host of team records, including most career points and highest average points per game (30.2). Graduating magna cum laude, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he studied politics, philosophy, and ethics, while also playing professional basketball in Milan, Italy (winning the European Champions Cup).
The New York Knicks had drafted Bradley after his senior year, but the Knicks had to wait until the 6-foot-5 scholar continued his studies at Oxford and completed a six-month stint in the Air Force Reserves. He finally joined the Knicks for the 1967-68 season. By his third season, the star-studded Knicks won the NBA championship for the first time in franchise history. They won again in 1972-73, the season Bradley made his only NBA All-Star appearance and averaged a career-high 16.1 points per game.
Bradley—known as Dollar Bill¬—retired from pro ball in 1977, having played his entire 742-game career with the Knicks. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983. The following year, the Knicks retired his No. 24 Jersey, an honor Bradley shared with his championship teammates Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, and Dave Debusschere.
After retiring, Bradley turned his attention to politics. In 1978, he ran as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate and won his first campaign with 56% of the vote. As a senator he worked on tax reform, campaign-finance reform, child-support reform, and federal budget reforms to reduce the deficit. Seeking reelection in 1982, he won in a landslide, gaining 65% of the vote. Four years later, he won again.
In 2000, Bradley made a bid for the Democratic nomination for president, but withdrew after failing to gain traction in the primaries. (The nomination went to Al Gore, the incumbent vice president.) After the campaign, Bradley withdrew from elected politics, but remained a spokesman for progressive causes. He also went into the private sector as a corporate consultant and investment banker, and continues to serve on the boards of several nonprofits,
Bradley is the author of seven nonfiction books on basketball, politics, culture, and economics, including the New York Times bestselling “Values of the Game,” co-authored with Knicks teammate Phil Jackson. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of North Carolina and Oxford University. In 2005, President Joe Biden named Bradley a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Throughout his career, Bradley was thankful for his transplanted roots in the Garden State. “Thank god Princeton was in New Jersey,” he told the audience at his New Jersey Hall of Fame induction. “That’s how I came [here], and for 18 years I worked as hard as I could… to represent the state in the United States Senate.”