Ann Arbor Native Promoted To Command Job At Air Base

U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO

Air Force Col. Stuart Bradley inspects the results of maintenance work on a T-38 aircraft at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. 

Ann Arbor native promoted to command job at air base

By WILLIAM B. TREML

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

An Ann Arbor native who years ago set scoring records as a guard on University High School’s basketball teams has been promoted to a top command position at a U. S. Air Force base in Texas.

Col. Stuart Bradley, who has been an Air Force officer for 23 years, was recently named deputy commander for maintenance for the 12th Flying Training Wing at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas. Bradley’s unit, composed of 900 Air Force personnel, is responsible for all phases of maintenance on T-37 and T-38 jet aircraft. Randolph is the Air Force headquarters for the training of pilot instructors.

Bradley, who has served in South Vietnam, West Germany and South Korea, is a graduate of the old University High School here and of Central Michigan University. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

In 1961 when he was a senior at University High School, Bradley scored a record-setting 52 points in a basketball game against Pinckney High School. The total was more than any other Ann Arbor high school athlete had scored in a game and U-High won the game 81 to 36. An Ann Arbor News story described Bradley at that time as having . .excellent speed, a good dribble and an agile left hand...” His coach, Nels Lehsten, called him “an intense ballhawk” who constantly intercepted opponents’ passes and went after loose basketballs with ferocity.

His mother, Carol Bradley, who learned of her son’s promotion recently, says he was always an enthusiastic athlete who ran track and played football in high school. His older brother, James, was also an Ann Arbor athlete, a Ferris State University graduate and is presently a coach at Haslett High School in Ingham County.

Col. Bradley served an earlier assignment at Randolph Field and was formerly stationed at K. I. Sawyer Air Base near Marquette in the Upper Peninsula as deputy commander for maintenance for the 410th Bombardment Wing. He holds six Meritorious Service Medals, two Air Force Commendation Medals and an Air Force Achievement Medal. His son, Brice, is a student at the high school on the Randolph base.