The Brad Bradley scholarship is given every year to the top applicant from Woodrow Wilson High School. It is named in honor of Brad Bradley, who was a member of the Exchange Club of East Dallas for over 50 years and was much loved by all who knew him.
Bradley’s storied career in Dallas began after his discharge from the military, WWII, when he joined his father-in-law’s photo studio across the street from the campus to take yearbook photos for SMU. Brad quickly became a professional sports photographer shooting many iconic athletes and games from the pros to college for over 70 years. At the age of 25, Bradley attended his first college bowl game, where he photographed legendary Mustang football player Doak Walker and his team facing off against the Penn State Nittany Lions. The pose used for the Doke Walker trophy was invented by Bradley and was used on many of his football player shots for the Topps Card Company. Bradley would spend the rest of his life becoming an intrinsic part of the history of SMU, Dallas, and universities across Texas, photographing every Cotton Bowl game, barring 2020, since his initial 1948 attendance.
To date, Bradley is the only photographer ever inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. He was further honored by a 2018 exhibition by the College Football Hall of Fame of the Bradley-Laughead archives and was awarded the 2023 Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Lone Star chapter of the Regional EMMY Awards.
The Exchange Club of East Dallas is honored to present a top Woodrow scholar an award bearing his name.