Photographing the Cotton Bowl

[Bella]

This guy has done it for the last 61 years!




Dallas shutterbug has photographed 61 Cotton Bowls

10:40 AM CST on Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Associated Press

DALLAS -- For 60 years now, the panorama of the Cotton Bowl Classic—from the smallest of moments to images that linger in football history—has unfolded before James “Brad” Bradley’s camera lens.

Through the years, he has photographed a Who’s Who of football greats, the names tumbling out—Joe Montana, Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Vince Dooley.

But the biggest, as far as Bradley is concerned, may have been local boy turned football legend Doak Walker.

Walker was just back from the service and leading Southern Methodist University to football prominence when Bradley took his first Cotton Bowl assignment Jan. 1, 1948, at the stadium soon known as “The House That Doak Built.”

Though he was a few years younger than Bradley, Walker left a lasting impression on the photographer, and not just for his staggering athletic gifts.

Six decades later, as he prepares to shoot Friday’s 73rd AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic—his 61st—the gracious and unassuming Bradley still marvels at those same traits in Walker, who became a lifelong friend.

“He felt like he wasn’t different from the rest of us,” said Bradley, now 86. “It’s such a becoming trait for someone to not take themselves too seriously, and Doak didn’t take himself seriously. He had a genuine humility.”

The same is true for Bradley, who credits his career as an official Cotton Bowl photographer to the people who helped along the way, and to the Cotton Bowl itself, a constant for much of his working life that continues today.

“Brad Bradley is the most humble, pleasant, hardworking man you could ever ask to know,” said Rick Baker, president of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association. “He epitomizes what our organization strives to be. He’s a man with a servant’s heart, trying to make someone else’s day better.”

Craig James, part of SMU’s great “Pony Express” backfield with Eric Dickerson in the 1980s, said he’s always happy to see Bradley because “he brings back a lot of great memories,” including SMU’s Cotton Bowl appearance in 1983.

“He shot my freshman photo at SMU, which I have framed and proudly displayed in my study,” James said. “He’s such an engaging personality.

“I can’t think of any other photographer whom you remember as a

player and whom you took time for,” he said. “Usually, it’s

‘Let’s go, let’s get it out of the way.’ “

Though Bradley specialized in crowd and event photos and in photographing members of the media covering the Cotton Bowl, he didn’t miss much of the game action.

He remembers one of the most amazing plays in the history of the game as if it occurred last week. But it was Jan. 1, 1954, when Alabama’s Tommy Lewis leaped from the Crimson Tide bench and tackled Rice running back Dicky Maegle as he streaked down the sideline.

The referee awarded Rice the touchdown anyway, Bradley said. “I think that’s the only time they’ve called a touchdown when the ball didn’t actually cross the goal line,” he said.

Of course, Bradley has seen a lot of touchdowns over the years.

But he isn’t even thinking about hanging up his cameras.

On Friday, he will take his place in the press box with his Nikons and his cache of film—because, as he said, “I haven’t stayed up with the digital part of photography.”

Then he’ll begin documenting the latest in what is a long line of memories.

“So much of my time here has been just sheer joy and fun,” Bradley said. “I have such tremendous memories that I don’t think I could have scripted a better life.”

As for the move to the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington for the 2010 Cotton Bowl game, well, “it isn’t necessary to get sentimental about it.”

Besides, Bradley said, he plans on being there for his 62nd Cotton Bowl.

“I’ll keep coming as long as they’ll have me,” he said.

That’s just fine with the Cotton Bowl folks.

“Probably 10 years ago, we honored Brad and gave him a Cotton

Bowl watch because we wanted him to know how much we appreciated the great things he does for us, the way he represents us,” Baker said.

“We thought, ‘You never know when it might be his last year’— that he might decide to hang it up, or have health problems. But he’s like the Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going.

“He’s always thinking about his shots, climbing ladders to get the best angle,” Baker said. “We should all be so healthy, so active at his age.”

And Bradley truly loves taking pictures.

He’d done some photography while serving with the Army Air Corps

in World War II.

During an assignment at Fort Worth Army Air Field, later Carswell Air Force Base, he met the woman he would marry, Betty Laughead, a civilian working there.

Her father, Jim, was a photographer for Consolidated Aircraft, located nearby. When the war ended, Laughead decided to go into business for himself and won the contract to provide all the photos for SMU’s yearbook in 1947.

Brad and Betty were working for the War Assets Administration in Texarkana when Laughead called with the news, and a job offer.

“He said, ‘It’s a lot of work and I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but I can’t do it myself.’ So we came back to Dallas and opened a photo studio there on Hillcrest, right across from SMU,” Bradley said.

Laughead, a classmate of Jesse Owens at Ohio State who often photographed the great track star, gravitated naturally to shooting collegiate sports.

The timing was perfect.

“When we opened the studio,” Bradley said, “Doak Walker was

just back from the service, and the whole area got excited about SMU football.”

Laughead and Bradley began photographing college teams, providing the schools with photos they’d use to help with recruiting.

Along the way, they developed a unique style of shooting. Instead of portraits, the athletes posed as if they were playing— tossing the ball, or diving to catch a pass, or charging down the field to level an opposing player.

They’d set their bulky cameras on the ground, gauge the available sunlight and produce photos “that made the players look bigger, more ferocious.”

It was revolutionary.

When LSU came to play the University of Texas, school officials

saw Bradley’s and Laughead’s photos in the UT program.

“Jim Corbett was the athletics director at LSU, and he was so impressed with the photos that he came to Dallas and asked if we could do something for them,” Bradley said.

“’Golly, yes.’ That was 1950, I think, and that just opened the floodgates.”

A year later, Corbett offered to make some calls to other Southeastern Conference teams “if you’re inclined,” Bradley said. “And we said, ‘We’re inclined.’ “

Soon, Bradley and Laughead had contracts with schools across the Southwest and Southeastern conferences, up the East Coast and into the Midwest.

“Things picked up momentum so fast we couldn’t get out of the way of it,” Bradley said.

Their business began at the Cotton Bowl, where the Southwest Conference champion hosted the classic each year from 1941 to 1994, and with the visiting teams that came to Dallas to play.

“All of this came about because of the prestige the Cotton Bowl had with teams around the country,” Bradley said.

“And it started with Doak Walker and SMU, all those years ago.”