049 - Jim Bradley

Nineteen years old … Didn't play with the varsity as a freshman—rules didn't allow it. Didn’t play on the JV, either—wasn’t academically eligible. Barred from practicing with the team ... So, played intramural ball instead. The Regions ran the table, winning 13 straight. Capped it off torching the frosh for 31 in a 90-64 exhibition victory … Yet featured in Sports Illustrated’s ’71-72 College Basketball preview issue. Headline: Year of the New Giants—with NC State’s 7-foot-4 Tom Burleson gracing the cover … Page 82. Full-color photo by award-winning Heinz Kluetmeier—over 125 SI covers to his credit … Overcast, gray-blue skies. Surrounded by withered cornstalks in DeKalb, some 60 miles west of downtown Chicago. Why the cornfield? Kluetmeier: “It was just symbolic of NIU’s environment.” … Standing, as SI noted, “as high as an elephant’s eye.” Cue Rodgers and Hammerstein … HUSKIES in large block lettering arched in thin black-outlined red across his home white No. 24 jersey. Basketball tucked under one arm … Smiling from ear-to-ear, showing off his pearly whites … At 1/500th of a second shutter speed: KLIK! KLIK! KLIK! … Print it! … Kluetmeier: “I knew it would be a terrific shoot as the photos attest.” … Sport magazine chimed in, too. Named him to its pre-season five-man sophomore All-America team … So, why all the hoopla? Led East Chicago Roosevelt to an undefeated 28-0 season and an Indiana state title as a senior in ’70—averaged 21 points, 15 rebounds per game. East Chicago Coach Bill Holzbach: “He had an uncanny knack of playing basketball. He could do things you just couldn’t teach.” … Finished No. 2 in the state’s Mr. Basketball voting. Parade Magazine second team All-American. Named to Tony Hinkle’s all-time All-Indiana team, which included Johnny Wooden, Rick Mount, George McGinnis and Oscar Robertson … Over 300 universities came calling, including national powers—UCLA, Michigan, Purdue … Didn’t stray far. Chose Northern Illinois, some 90 miles from home. “I saw what kind of talent they had, and it looked like they were developing a good team.” … NIU Coach Tom Jorgensen: “He’s one of the greatest high school basketball players I have ever seen.” Coach Jorgy should know. He’d helped recruit future college hoops HOFer Cazzie Russell as an assistant at Michigan … How’d he measure up? Listed somewhere between 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-10. “They padded my height in college and I had a real high Afro on top of that. I turned out much shorter when I cut it off.” True height: 6-foot-7 … More Jorgy: “He has everything—size, speed and quickness.” … Sophomore season: Put up 22.9 and 15.9 for Northern’s 21–4 squad in ’71-72—the only time NIU cracked the AP Top 20 in program history … Hung 24 and 20 in an 87-71 upset of rookie Coach Knight’s No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers at the Barn. Brought the ball upcourt against Knight's full-court press. No one could stop him … Midwestern Conference MVP. Helped NIU break 52 records that season … Said the right things: “The publicity didn’t bother me. I try not to get a big head, or let it change me.” … Junior year: Third in the nation in rebounding at 17.8, with scoring up to 23.4—though team slid to 17-8 … And, then, played in an unsanctioned post-season tournament to benefit underprivileged children. NCAA’s response: Suspended him for the first nine games of the ’73-74 season. “I feel I got a raw deal. The tournament was to help the young kids. It wasn’t like I was getting money for playing.” … Sat out two more games for missing practice. Academic trouble followed, costing him the rest of the season ... Two-year ledger: 46 double-doubles, including two triple-doubles, in 49 games. First NIU player to score more than 1,000 points over two seasons. Career leader in scoring (23.1) and rebounding (16.8). Two-time All-American … “I thought about what I should do for a week and decided I’d try to sign.” … Inked a five-and-a-half year, $700,000 deal with the Kentucky Colonels on Jan. 22, ’74—though contract terms were often inflated. ABA motto: Bigger numbers, bigger news … “I’m really very excited about signing. The Colonels are one of the finest teams in the game and their fans are just super.” … Kentucky owner Ellie Brown: “Our scouts tell us he is one of the most complete ballplayers in college and he’s only 21 years old.” … Colonels coach Babe McCarthy: “We feel Bradley will give us the best front line in all pro basketball. We also feel he is the best passing big man in the college ranks.” … Kentucky had acquired his rights from San Diego for five hundred bucks. The Qs had picked him up in the second round of the ABA’s secret undergraduate draft in ’73—behind UCLA’s Bill Walton … By game No. 2, he’d moved into the starting frontcourt, alongside Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel—filling the spot vacated by Wendell Ladner, who’d been traded to the Nets … Gilmore called him “a super, super talented player.” ... Issel: “Talent-wise, I would put him in the class of the Julius Ervings and David Thompsons of this world.” ... Opponents took notice, too. Indiana’s George McGinnis: “On a given night, Bradley can be better than me. He can be better than Julius Erving.” … Didn’t shy away from the comparisons. “I think of myself a lot like Dr. J.” …

But there were warning signs: Showing up late for team meetings. Skipping practices. Missing flights. Dozing off during games … His story? “I’m just a real sound sleeper. Alarm clocks seldom work. I usually need a wake-up call to get me going.” …

Gilmore’s take: “Lack of self-discipline was the reason for his downfall. He had plenty of talent, but you couldn’t count on him.” … McGinnis: “He got hooked up with the wrong crowd after college.” … The money didn’t help. “I started having big money problems because I was thrown into so much money so quickly. I didn’t know how to handle it. Instead of me controlling the money, it controlled me.” … Finished the season averaging 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds over 35 games. Showed flashes: Eighteen rebounds against Denver on Feb. 8. Twenty-one points on 10-of-13 shooting against the Nuggets five days later. “I still have to get adjusted to the shoving and pushing.” … Started the ’74-75 season in Coach Hubie Brown’s doghouse, playing behind Wil Jones and Marv Roberts. Then, broke his left foot during practice on Feb. 14—forcing him to miss 28 of the final 31 games. Won a ring anyway. Though he didn’t play in the Finals matchup against the Pacers … By then, he’d worn out his welcome. Claimed by Baltimore Hustlers, soon to be renamed the Claws, in something the ABA called the Equalization Draft in Sept. ’75. In theory, a way to bolster the league’s weaker franchises. In practice, a way for stronger clubs to dump unwanted contracts. “I was glad they put me in the draft.” … Change of scenery didn’t help. Missed practices and was suspended there, too … “Nothing seemed to go right. We weren’t being paid.” … Team folded before the season opener. Went unclaimed in the dispersal draft … Hooked on with Denver a month later. Tryout arranged by Jorgy, now the Nuggets' TV colorman ... Got into seven games. Missed three practices. $5,000 Fine. And was released. “My body and my mind weren’t where they needed to be for me to play pro basketball.” … Never made it back to the pros, though he kept trying. Played in France for a season—racked up 35 and 24 per night. “It wasn’t too bad over there, and they invited me back, but my place is here.” … Returned stateside for a chance to try out with the defending NBA champion Portland Trail Blazers in Sep. ’77. Didn’t make the cut … Landed with the minor league Rochester Zeniths. And stayed awhile, winning two titles there, in ’79 and ’81. Then hung up his sneakers … In ’78, admitted he’d used drugs during his ABA days. Said he wasn’t addicted, though. “It was just keeping me from being in the condition I was supposed to be in for basketball.” … Born James Arthur Bradley, March 16, 1952, East Chicago, IL. Nicknamed Magic, The Franchise … Gunned down in an alley behind a Portland bar in the early morning hours of Feb. 20, ’82. Single shot, to the back or chest—reports differed. Died an hour later. Age: 29 … Suspect? Unknown. Case No. 82-14618: Cold. Still ... Police had arrested him two days prior for selling drugs. Out on bond ... Named NIU’s Player of the 20th Century. Inducted NIU Athletics Hall of Fame in ‘83, Kentucky Athletic HOF in ’05, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in ’10 ... NIU unveiled a display commemorating the SI photoshoot in ’16 at its Convocation Center, built near the spot where Kluetmeier photographed him 45 years earlier … Kluetmeier remembered in ’16: “He soared above the nearby cornfields unfettered by gravity and flashing that great smile.”

Sourcing: Baltimore Sun, 9/25/1975, 9/27/1975 [Hubie’s doghouse; glad they put me in the draft; Bradley blames alarm clocks; “I think of myself as being a lot like Dr. J.”]; Chapel Hill News, 2/14/1974 [I thought about what I should do for a week and decided I’d try to sign.”]; Chicago Tribune, 11/26/1971, 1/3/1974 [suspended two games for skipping a practice]; Cincinnati Enquirer, 2/1/1974 [McGinnis quote]; Daily Chronicle, 2/26/1971, 9/28/1971, 11/23/1971, 11/26/1971 [The Franchise], 3/20/1972, 4/6/1972, 3/25/1974 [signed three-year, $300,000 deal], 2/24/1982:, 2/18/1997, 1/14/2001 [NIU Player of the Century], 2/11/2016 [Hinkle’s all-time team; First-team All Indiana as senior], 2/10/2014, 2/14/2016 [display at NIU Convocation Center]; Denver Post, 12/8/1975 [Missed three practices]; Evansville Courier and Press, 4/19/1970; Evansville Press, 11/29/1970: Hammond Times, 4/5/1970 [Parade Magazine AA second team], 6/28/1983 [NIU HOF, 83], 4/18/2001 [Brought ball upcourt against Indiana’s press], 9/17/2009; Indianapolis Star, 2/27/1982 [single shot in the back; Holzbach quote]; Louisville Courier-Journal, 5/23/1970, 8/6/1972 [Knight quote about 87-71 loss], 1/23/1974; Morning Star, 5/10/1970 [Jorgensen’s Cazzie Russell comparison], 10/19/1971 [“I try not to let myself to get a big head. I try not to get uppity.”; lazy quote], 3/13/1972 [Bradley publicity quote], 1/12/1974 [academically ineligible; stat summaries, including third in nation in rebounding as junior], 2/16/1975 [broke left foot during practice, Feb. 14]; 8/29/1975 [Equalization Draft]; Oregon Journal, 2/22/1982 [died of a single gun shot wound to the chest]; Pantagraph, 6/14/1970; Rochester Times-Union, 12/28/1977 [played in France; averaged 35 and 24]; 11/29/1978 [not ready for pro ball quote]; Rockford Register Star, 11/14/1973 [suspended for nine games for playing in a summer post-season tournament], 1/23/1974 [Kentucky bought rights from Qs], 3/7/1982 Bradley, Gilmore, Issel, Rudoy quotes; drug admission; money issues]; San Antonio Express-News, 10/22/1975 [dispersal draft; suspended by Baltimore]; Sports Illustrated, 11/29/1971; Star Press, 5/30/1973 [first at NIU to score 1,000 over two seasons]; Times-Mall, 4/20/1970; hoopshall.com, accessed 6/30/2026; niuhuskies.com, accessed 6/30/2026 [Kentucky Athletic HOF, ’05]; portland.gov, accessed 7/1/2026 [cold case info].