Bill BRADLEY

A renaissance man if ever there was one, Bill Bradley was the greatest college basketball player of the mid-60s. Eschewing the normal route of immediate pro stardom, he instead accepted a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford. While at Oxford he played occasional basketball in European leagues and found that he missed the competition of top-flight basketball. Bradley joined the New York Knicks in the middle of the 1968 amidst much media hoopla. He was basically a disappointment that first season and it was attributed to the fact that, at 6-5 (1.95) and of only average speed, he fit in at neither guard nor forward. Eventually Bradley became a star in the NBA but not of the individual variety. Never an All-Star or an outstanding one-on-one player, he became the consummate team player and helped the New York Knicks to win two NBA championships. After an 11-year pro career, all with the Knicks, he retired in 1977. Bradley’s accomplishments did not end with professional sports. He later served three terms for the state of New Jersey as a U.S. Senator from 1978-1996. In 2000, he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination as U.S. President. He has since served as a corporate consultant and investment banker.