Bill Bradley

1943-07-28 · Crystal City, Missouri, USA

William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a United States senator from New Jersey from 1979 to 1997 and a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the 2000 election, which he lost to Vice President Al Gore. Bradley was born and raised in Crystal City, Missouri, a small town 45 miles (72 km) south of St. Louis. He excelled at basketball from an early age. He did well academically and was an all-county and all-state basketball player in high school. He was offered 75 college scholarships, but declined them all to attend Princeton University. He won a gold medal as a member of the 1964 Olympic basketball team and was the Most Outstanding Player of the 1965 NCAA Tournament, when Princeton finished third. After graduating in 1965, he attended Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship where he was a member of Worcester College, delaying a decision for two years on whether or not to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).