James “Brad” Bradley passes away at home
If you every played a sport over the last seventy years in the Park Cities you know Brad Bradley, he took your photo. Until recently he took every Highland Park team and organization’s photograph. He was also a legend at SMU and the Cotton Bowl. To know him was to love him, his story goes back decades but his affable personality and southern manners were refreshing and effective and were always part of who he was.
There really isn’t a short version but I will try. A farm boy raised in Tarrant County between Arlington and Mansfield went on to serve in World War II in Okinawa.
Upon his return to Dallas, he married Betty Laughead in 1946, becoming the son in law of Jim Laughead who he became business partners with. Betty and Brad became parents to Iris and Jimmy but he continued to do what he loved.
Brad and his father in law traveled across the South photographing not only Southwest Conference teams but also NFL. When SMU alum Lamar Hunt had him photography the Dallas Texans coached by Hank Stram in 1960, then the team moved to Kansas City in 1963, traveling ensued. Brad’s wife Betty was a photographer and often joined her husband. Coach Stram had the pair take polaroids during the Texans’ games which helped the coaches make adjustments during the game.
Brad Bradley photographed his first Cotton Bowl game in 1948 when Highland Park Alumnae and SMU great Doak Walker played with his SMU teammates. Bradley went on to photograph every Cotton Bowl game with the exception of the 2020 Covid game. Let me do the math for you, that’s about 75 games. He was in his place this past May to photograph the Hall of Famers including Eli Manning, Florida State cornerback Terrell Buckley, Texas A&M quarterback Edd Hargett, Auburn linebacker Will Herring, Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning, past CBAA Chairman Fred McClure, Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel and Missouri tailback Tony Temple.
The Cotton Bowl inducted him in their Hall of Fame in 2007. The only photographer to ever be inducted.
Being behind his camera Brad Bradley did his best work. In his younger years he and his father in law created the posed action shot so well known from the 1950’s. Think of a well known football player or coach and odds are Bradley photographed them. He continued to be involved in Highland Park and SMU and documenting the big football moments including the Doak Walker award ceremony every year.
In addition to his Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame honors, he has received Hall of Fame Legends Award in 2019 from SMU Athletics and 2023 Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Lone Star chapter of the Regional EMMY Awards. He has served as the Grand Marshall of the Park Cities Fourth of July parade and was named Citizen of the Year in 2019. His story has been told by newspapers, news stations and online including the Dallas Morning News, WFAA and ESPN .
A fun tidbit is that during the football off season, for years, he and his wife would travel around the country and photograph baseball teams for TOPPs baseball cards.
As a personal note I have had the opportunity to watch and learn from my friend Mr. Bradley. I use to stand in the donut shop and stare at all the school teams and organizations’ posters that he did all the photos for and be amazed at the consistency of his photos. Something I am still working on. I have been at events where coaches and former players can’t wait to talk to Mr. Bradley. Just last year at a local Texas OU luncheon people were lined up to take selfies with him.
Anyone that was lucky enough to hear about his 100 birthday party by word of mouth showed up to a large standing room only party. At any time there were no less that 300 people in attendance. Mr. Bradley spoke to everyone and posed for photos. How strange it must have been for him to be in front of the camera.
Mr. Brad Bradley was one of a kind and one that will be greatly missed by many.
I can only imagine what a crowd was waiting to greet him upstairs.
