Jeff Bradley is the only Millersville cross country and track performer who has had his singlet retired. And, he was the 1974 winner of the Elwood J. Finley Award as the University's top male athlete.
An outstanding performer over hill and dale, Bradley was a two-time NAIA All-American (1972, 1973) and earned NCAA College Division All-American honors in 1972 and 1973. He finished third in both the 1971 NAIA and 1973 IC4A Championships. Bradley also captured the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crown his senior year ('73).
Bradley was undefeated in dual competition on Millersville's cross country campus course for four consecutive years. During his Marauder harrier career, Bradley led MU to a sparkling 37-6 dual record.
On the track, Bradley captured the 1974 PSAC three and six-mile titles. He is one of only five Marauders in team history to win two PSAC titles in the same year.
Bradley competed for outstanding Marauder track and field squads, under coaches Cy Fritz and Larry Warshawsky, which posted a brilliant 32-3 dual meet record that featured unbeaten seasons in 1972 (9-0) and 1973 (8-0).
To this day, Bradley holds the Marauder outdoor mile record (4:11.0) and the 'Ville indoor mile (4:15.0) and two mile (8:57.1) standards, all set in 1973.
After graduating from Millersville with a bachelor's of science in mathematics/education, Jeff continued to excel competitively. He was third in the 1976 AAU National Cross Country Championships, which he considered his finest race. He won five of the nine marathons he entered including two Harrisburg Marathon crowns. He placed 39th in the 1976 Boston Marathon, and returned to Boston in '92 to place seventh in the World Masters Cross Country Championships. Jeff was also an alternate on the 1977 U.S. International Cross Country Team.
Locally, Bradley has helped organize the Red Rose Run (in which he is a four-time champion), the Millersville Turkey Trot (he won the annual November 10-kilometer run in its first seven years), the Park City Run, and the Lititz Peace Run.
From 1979 to 1986, Jeff served his collegiate mentor, Eugene E. "Cy" Fritz, as assistant coach of the Millersville men's cross country squad. With his guidance, the Marauder harriers captured the 1981 NCAA Division II National Championship and during his eight-year coaching tenure, he helped guide the Marauders to a 46-3-1 dual record that included five undefeated seasons.
In his professional life, Bradley has served since 1977 as a mathematics teacher in the Hempfield School District (and is currently the district mathematics supervisor). He had also taught math at Lampeter-Strasburg High School in 1974-75 and at Conrad Weiser High School from 1975 to 1977.
Bradley has also earned acclaim for coaching excellence and leadership in cross country and track and field. He has served as head boys' track and field mentor at Hempfield High since 1981 and has guided the Knights to three Lancaster-Lebanon League Section I titles and one overall league championship. His teams have won more than 75 percent of their dual meets under his direction.
He served as director of the Lancaster County Junior Olympics from 1977 to 1982, and since 1981 has served his alma mater as director of the Marauder Cross Country Camps, one of the largest of its kind for boys and girls in the U.S. He has also skippered the Hempfield Black Knights Track and Field Camp from 1991 to the present.
In addition, Bradley has also served the community through the Boys Club of Lancaster, and he gave up his own trophies and medals to boys as prizes in organizational track meets. He also earned a master's of education in math education from Millersville.
Bradley has returned to marathon competition within the past year (Marine Corps and Boston). And, he plans to compete in the Philadelphia Marathon in November, 1999.
Jeff and his wife, Nancy, reside in Lancaster.
