A leading North American Soccer League coach who, among other accomplishments, coached the New York Cosmos in two of the three seasons that Pele was with the team.
Bradley came to the United States in the 1960s after a professional playing career of more than 10 years in England. He was player-caoch of the New York Ukrainsians team that won the U.S. Open Cup in 1965 and the New York Hota team that won the U.S. Open Cup in 1971 (the latter while he was coaching the Cosmos at the same time). He began his NASL playing career witthe New York Generals in 1968, and then was with the Baltimore Bays in 1969.
Bradley signed to coach the Cosmos several months before the start of their first season in 1971, and then signed himself as a player a few days before the season. He coached the team in the 1971 to 1975 seasons, and for portions of the 1976 and 1977 seasons. He was no longer with the Cosmos when they won the 1977 NASL championship, having been replaced in mid-season, but he did coach the Cosmos team that won the NASL title in 1972. Although he was never a regular player with the Cosmos, playing only 52 games for them in five seasons, he did play more games for them than he had for the Generals and Bays combined.
After leaving the Cosmos, Bradley was vice president and coach of the Washington Diplomats of the NASL from 1977 to 1980. He ranks fifth on the all-time list of NASL coaching victories with 114, and his Washington years enabled him to become the only man to have coached Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff.
Bradley also served as coach of the U.S. national team for five games in the fall of 1973. In the last of those, against Israel in Beersheba on Nov. 15, 1973, he used himself in the U.S. lineup, becoming the only man ever to be player-coach of the U.S. national team.
Inducted in 1996.
