Brad Bradley is immortalized in the Cotton Bowl, SMU athletics and College Football halls of fame. He also was at the forefront of Dallas’ 1960 infancy in not one, but two pro football leagues.

Bradley achieved legendary status without a solitary block, tackle or thrown pass, but, rather, through hundreds of thousands of photographs that he captured through keen eyes, sense of moment and because he seemingly was, well, ever-present.

James T. “Brad” Bradley died Friday morning in his University Park home. He was 101.

Bradley worked 75 of the 87 Cotton Bowls, now officially known as the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. The only reason his streak of 74 straight was interrupted was due to COVID-19 restrictions for the 2020 game.

“Mr. Bradley is a Cotton Bowl Classic treasure,” Cotton Bowl Athletic Association president and CEO Rick Baker said Friday. “His impact on our game and generations of sports fans is truly immeasurable.

“Brad has been a fixture at our game since Doak Walker played in the Classic in 1948. He lived such an incredible life and we will miss him dearly. We will always remember and celebrate him as a Cotton Bowl Classic Hall of Famer.”

Bradley was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame in 2007 and into SMU’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

Though ironman in length, his Cotton Bowl streak was forged by his unwavering professionalism, heart of gold and gentle spirit. Centenarians generally outlive their friends, but several hundred of Bradley’s gathered on SMU’s campus for his July 23, 2022 centennial birthday celebration.

“Every day I wake up knowing it’s going to be a great day,” Bradley said when The News visited his home for a 2016 profile story. “I’m so fortunate because taking photographs, creating memories that last forever, never feels like work.”

Bradley’s quiet disposition contrasted that of his affable father-in-law and longtime business partner, Jim Laughead.

Dallas was their base and SMU was their first major client, but they annually traveled the country in a station wagon, primarily taking football photos on college campuses and for and professional teams. By 1970 they had contracts with 35 colleges and 12 NFL teams.

Laughead and Bradley pioneered the posed stock-action photos of athletes that became a staple of newspapers in the 1950s and ‘60s. Rudimentary camera technology made taking quality game-action photos next to impossible.

While photographing a Mississippi State linebacker, they asked him to perform the Hucklebuck Dance, producing a suitable posed “action,” shot. Thus was born the “Huckin’ & Buckin’ photo technique.

Bradley, born and raised on a farm between Mansfield and Arlington, married Betty Laughead, herself an accomplished photographer, in 1946.

The births of daughter Iris (1954) and son Jim (1963) did not slow the burgeoning family business. For a decade, Brad and Betty traveled to major league baseball spring camps in Florida to take headshots of every player for Topps bubble gum cards.

Bradley’s associations with SMU and the Cotton Bowl naturally fostered a friendship of an early ‘50s Mustangs reserve football player named Lamar Hunt, who in 1959 would go on to co-found the American Football League, including Hunt’s Dallas Texans.

Brad and Betty worked Dallas Texans games for coach Hank Stram from 1960 until the franchise left for Kansas City in 1963. Stram had Brad and Betty produce 40-to-50 Polaroids per game, rushing each to the sideline during the game to help coaches explain blocking scheme adjustments.

After the Texans won the 1962 AFL championship game, a double-overtime victory over Houston, Hunt presented to Betty a football inscribed: “The Longest Game With The Happiest Ending.”

Jim Laughed died in 1978. Betty died in 2010. Brad Bradley, with son Jim as his assistant, forged on, creating countless memories for countless photo subjects and their loved ones.

It’s a lasting legacy of a 101-year life, the unassuming artist who became a beloved Dallas institution. One photograph at a time.

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Coming to you from Alister Benn of Expressive Photography, this great video tutorial discusses the use of filters in landscape filters, particularly ND filters and polarizing filters. The beauty of ND filters is that they allow you to use much longer shutter speeds than would otherwise be possible, allowing you to do things like create silky smooth flows of water and cloud. When it comes to a polarizing filter, the most important thing to remember is that some of its effects cannot be recreated in post-processing, particularly their ability to cut down on reflections and allow you to bring out more color or things like leaves that are underwater. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Benn.

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