Researching Tom Bradley

His sixth book, Fission Among the Fanatics, was named Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2007 by 3:AM Magazine, with the citation, a literary giant among pygmies. NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu called this book "the first appearance of a genre so strange we are turning away from naming it..." The publication of his seventh book, Lemur, by Raw Dog Screaming Press is part of the Bizarro fiction movement. According to The Advocate, "[Lemur] could do as much to raise the rainbow flag as two medium-size Midwestern Stonewall Day parades." Tom Bradley has meanwhile contributed to the theoretical elucidation of the Bizarro aesthetic with his criticism and his interviews. His eighth novel, Vital Fluid, is based on the life, writings and performances of stage hypnotist John-Ivan Palmer and was published by Crossing Chaos Enigmatic Ink.

His twentieth book, Family Romance (illustrated by Nick Patterson), is forthcoming from Debra Di Blasi's Jaded Ibis Press, described by Forbes magazine as a "hotpoint where the novel is undergoing radical transformation to reflect its time."

Bradley, a Democrat, also ran for Governor of California in 1982 and 1986, but was defeated both times by Republican candidate George Deukmejian. The racial dynamics that appeared to underlie his narrow and unexpected loss in 1982 gave rise to the political term "the Bradley effect." In 1985, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.

Kettering-born, Tom Bradley was educated at Kettering Central School and worked in the mines during World War II. Bradley joined the London, Midland and Scottish Railway as a junior clerk in the Goods Depot at Kettering in 1941. He became a railway clerk at Oundle and was national treasurer of the clerks' union, the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association from 1961, its president from 1964 to 1977, and was its acting General Secretary for four months in 1977 after the retirement of the previous General Secretary (David MacKenzie) on health grounds. He served as a councillor on Northamptonshire County Council from 1952 and as an alderman from 1961.

Bradley contested Rutland and Stamford as a Labour candidate in 1950, 1951 and 1955, and Preston South in 1959. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester North East at a 1962 by-election, representing Leicester East from 1974. He served as parliamentary private secretary to the Home Secretary from 1966.

On 20 February 1981 Bradley announced he would not seek to contest his seat again as a Labour Candidate. He claimed that the Party's National Executive Committee and the Party Conference were "knocking the living daylights out of decent, well established party practices" and said he would be morally compelled to join any new party formed by the Council for Social Democracy which had been created by the Gang of Four the previous month. The same day three other supporters of the Council for Social Democracy resigned the Labour whip. Unsurprisingly Bradley was among the Labour MPs who defected to the new Social Democratic Party which emerged from the Council for Social Democracy in March 1981.

In 1983, he stood for re-election in Leicester East but came third with 21% of the vote. This however may have had the effect of helping the Conservative candidate Peter Bruinvels beat the future Labour minister Patricia Hewitt by 933 votes. He died in Kettering in September 2002, at the age of 76.

Bradley has been recognized for his defense's outstanding performances. He was named the Associated Press Defensive Coordinator of the Year in 2005 and was named Rivals.Com Defensive Coordinator of the Year in 2008. Additionally Rivals.com had Bradley ranked as the 2nd best defensive coordinator in the nation before he was named interim head coach in 2011.

From 2004 to 2011 Penn State's defense ranked 3rd in the nation in scoring defense (16.4 ppg) and was 5th in total defense (298.7 ypg). In 2009, the Nittany Lions ranked in the top 15 nationally in the six primary defensive categories. Additionally, from 2004 to 2009 Penn State finished in the top 15 in total and scoring defense. From 2004 through most of the 2011 season, Penn State held 53 of its 88 opponents to 17 points or fewer. 10 of those 53 came in Penn State's illustrious 2009 campaign.

Bradley was inducted into the Cambria County Hall of Fame in 1998, and served as the honorary chair of the Special Olympics in 2006. He was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in May 2014, and is a member of the 2020 Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame class. He was also inducted into the Pittsburgh Athletic Association Hall of Fame in January 2015, where he is one of only four collegiate football coaches to receive this honor.