ed bradley

Bradley's book offers poignant LSU life slices
Sunday, September 02, 2007Peter Finney
He's lived both sides of the tracks, John Ed Bradley has, first as a four-year letterman at LSU. Later, it was as a gifted observer, as an essayist and novelist dealing with the narcotic hold college football has on the fresh-faced gladiators, whose lives seem frozen to those autumn Saturdays that will not go away.

In Bradley's case, his new book, "It Never Rains In Tiger Stadium," comes at a time Southern California and his alma mater enter the season ranked 1-2, a turn of events that has the author obviously excited, but also "anxious we can live up to such high expectations."

"You bet I'd like to see the Tigers and Trojans go at it for the national championship," Bradley said. "I did a piece for Sports Illustrated on John David Booty, the USC quarterback and found him to be a real nice guy. Now I want to see the nice guy lose to the Tigers. I want to see us get a chance to make up for what happened back in '79."

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Edward Rudolph Bradley, Jr. (June 22, 1941 � November 9, 2006) was a highly-respected American journalist, best known for 26 years of award-winning work on the CBS News television magazine 60 Minutes. During his earlier career he also covered the fall of Saigon, was the first black television correspondent to cover the White House, and anchored his own news broadcast, "CBS Sunday Night with Ed Bradley."[1] He was the recipient of multiple awards, including 19 Emmy Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of Black Journalists.


That year, Bradley was one of the captains on an LSU team that faced Southern Cal for the first time, a team that came into Tiger Stadium ranked No. 1, a team with a dozen future first-round picks and two future Heisman Trophy winners, running backs Charles White and Marcus Allen.

A double-digit favorite, the Trojans scored in the final minute to win 17-12 with a drive that turned on a facemask call against defensive lineman Benjy Thibodaux.

"They stole it, pure and simple," Bradley recalled. "It was a terrible call."

It was Charley McClendon's 18th and final season as LSU coach, and in his book Bradley tells of his visit to a dying coach in 2001.

"He gave my hand a squeeze and asked me if I remembered the night USC came to Tiger Stadium and how the fans stood on their feet for four straight quarters and watched as we showed the Trojans what LSU football was all about. 'I remember it all the time,' I answered."

Bradley tells us how Charley Mac "reached a hand up and raked it in front of his face. "They called facemasking against Benjy," he whispered.

Moments later, he tells how Coach Mac "eased his grip on my hand and closed his eyes."

Bradley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only child to an African American father and mother. His parents divorced when he was two, after which he was raised by his mother Gladys, who worked two jobs to make ends meet. Bradley, who was referred to with the childhood name of "Butch Bradley" was able to see his father, who was in the vending machine business and owned a restaurant in Detroit, in the summertime. When he was 9, his mother enrolled him in an all-black Catholic boarding school, which had been set up to keep poor children "off the streets." He attended St. Thomas More High School in Philadelphia, and then another historically black school, Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania) in Cheyney, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1964 with a degree in Education. His first job was teaching sixth grade at the William B. Mann Elementary School in Philadelphia's Wynnefield community. While he was teaching, he moonlighted at the old WDAS studios on Edgley Drive in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, working for free and later, for minimum wage. He programmed music, read news, and covered basketball games.


[edit] Career
His introduction to news reporting came at WDAS during the riots in Philadelphia in the 1960s. In 1967, he landed a full-time job at the CBS-owned New York radio station WCBS. In 1971, he moved to Paris, France. Initially living off his savings, he eventually ran out of money, and began working as a stringer for CBS News, covering the Paris Peace Talks. In 1972, he volunteered to be transferred to Saigon to cover the Vietnam War, as well as spending time in Phnom Penh covering the war in Cambodia. It was there that he was injured by a mortar round, receiving shrapnel wounds to his back and arm.

In 1974, he moved to Washington, D.C., and was promoted to covering the Carter campaign in 1976. He then became CBS News' White House correspondent (the first black White House television correspondent) until 1978, when he was invited to move to "CBS Reports", where he served as principal correspondent until 1981. In that year, Walter Cronkite departed as anchor of the CBS Evening News, and was replaced by the 60 Minutes correspondent Dan Rather, leaving an opening on the program which was filled by Bradley.

Over the course of his 26 years on 60 Minutes, he did over 500 stories, covering nearly every possible type of news, from "heavy" segments on war, politics, poverty and corruption, to lighter biographical pieces, or stories on sports, music, and cuisine. Among others, he interviewed Howard Stern, Lawrence Olivier, Timothy McVeigh, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, the 92-year-old George Burns, and Michael Jordan, as well as conducting the first television interview of Bob Dylan in 20 years. Some of his quirkier moments included playing blackjack with the blind Ray Charles, interviewing a Soviet general in a Russian sauna, and having a practical joke played on him by Muhammad Ali. Bradley's favorite segment on 60 Minutes was when as a 42-year-old correspondent, he interviewed the 64-year-old singer Lena Horne. He said, "If I arrived at the Pearly gates and Saint Peter said, 'What have you done to deserve entry?' I'd just say, 'Did you see my Lena Horne story??'"

On the show, Bradley was known for his sense of style, and was the first (and thus far, the only) male correspondent to regularly wear an earring on the air. He had his left ear pierced in 1986 and says he was inspired to do it after receiving encouragement from Liza Minnelli following an interview with the actress.


[edit] Personal life
He never had children, but was married to Haitian-born artist Patricia Blanchet, who he had met at a museum where she was working as a tour guide. Despite the age difference, he pursued her, and they dated for ten years before marrying in a private ceremony in Woody Creek, Colorado, where they had a home. Bradley also maintained homes in East Hampton, New York, and New York City, New York.


Ed Bradley in the Khyber Pass, from a picture that he kept in his office. He said that he was thinking, "Would you believe this, little Butch Bradley from West Philly, standing in the Khyber? Alexander the Great came through here! ... It was wonderful. That made it worth everything."Bradley was known for loving all kinds of music, but was especially a jazz music enthusiast. He hosted the Peabody Award-winning Jazz at Lincoln Center on National Public Radio for over a decade until just before his death. A big fan of the Neville brothers, Bradley performed on stage with the bunch, and was known as 'the fifth Neville brother'.[2] Bradley was also friends with Jimmy Buffett, and would often perform onstage with him, under the name "Teddy." Bradley was of limited musical ability and did not have an extensive repertoire, but would usually draw smiles by singing the 1951 classic by Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "Sixty Minute Man."[3]

In the company of his longtime friend Jimmy Buffett, Bradley died on November 9, 2006 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan of complications from leukemia.[4] He was sixty-five.


[edit] Legacy
Bradley was honored in 2007 with a traditional jazz funeral procession at the New Orleans Jazzfest, which he was a large supporter of. The parade, which took place on the first day of the six day festival, circled the fairgrounds and included two brass bands.

Columnist Clarence Page wrote:

" When he was growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia, his folks told him he could be anything he wanted to be. He took them up on it. ... Even in those days before the doors of opportunity were fully opened to black Americans, Mr. Bradley challenged the system. He worked hard and prepared himself. He opened himself to the world and dared the world to turn him away. He wanted to be a lot and he succeeded. Thanks to examples like his, the rest of us know that we can succeed, too.[5] "

Bradley had been a season subscriber to the New York Knicks for over 20 years. On November 13, 2006 they honored him with a moment of silence. On the 60 Minutes program after Bradley's death, his longtime friend Wynton Marsalis closed the show with a solo trumpet performance, playing some of the music that Bradley loved best.