Bill Bradley

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 Partys 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 allcounty and allstate 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