101 Greats of European Basketball

Second career
While he was a pro player, Bradley also was also getting
ready for a second career, in politics. He excelled as
a social worker. He taught in Harlem, talked a lot with
businessmen, students, politicians and the press. The
basketball community honored him in the highest manner
possible by inducting him into the Hall of Fame in
1982. The Knicks also retired his jersey with number 24
in 1984. The only other players so honored before him
were Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Dave DeBusschere.
His political career took place with the Democrat
Party but, as an independent thinker, he once broke
that discipline and backed a Republican president,
Ronald Reagan, on certain issues. When he retired as a
player in 1977, he ran for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey.
He beat his rival, conservative Jeffrey Bell, with the 56%
of the vote. In 1984, he repeated in the spot with 65% of
the vote and he was proposed for the presidential election,
but he declined. Later, after retiring from the Senate,
he decided to run for the Democratic nomination
for president in 2000, against Al Gore, who was then
the vice president of the United States. In March of that
same year, seeing that Gore had more support inside
the party, he decided to step out of the race. In January
of 2008, Bradley gave public support to Barack Obama.
To this day, Bradley is considered a progressive among
American thinkers. And in Italy, the Olimpia Milano fans
still remember him with a special kind of love for bringing
them Italy’s first European basketball trophy.
Bill Bradley, a senator and a Lord of the Rims.
Bill Bradley
101 greats of european basketball
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