CLEVELAND – The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) announced that NACDA Past President and Hall of Famer Bill Bradshaw has been selected as the recipient of the 57th James J. Corbett Memorial Award, the highest honor one can achieve in collegiate athletics administration. Bradshaw spent nearly 40 years as a Division I athletics director, with stints at DePaul University, Temple University, and his alma mater La Salle University. He will be honored in conjunction with the 58^th Annual NACDA & Affiliates Convention at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Fla., at the beginning of the Association-Wide Featured Session on Monday, June 12, starting at 4 p.m.
 
"Bill Bradshaw is a NACDA Family man through and through, and it is fitting that he is now receiving the Corbett Award from his peers to recognize all he has done for the Association and intercollegiate athletics," said NACDA Chief Executive Officer Pat Manak. "Bill has selflessly given back to our industry all throughout his career and into retirement, and we are proud to honor his dedication and commitment in this way."
 
The Corbett Award is presented annually to the collegiate administrator who "through the years has most typified Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment." Corbett, athletics director at Louisiana State University (LSU), was NACDA's first president in 1965. Additionally, Bradshaw will receive an honorary degree from the Sports Management Institute (SMI), an educational institute sponsored by NACDA and the universities of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Southern California and Texas.
 
"To learn that I will receive the 2023 James J. Corbett Memorial Award, the highest honor a college athletics administrator can achieve, has been, quite simply, euphoric for me," Bradshaw said. "It is truly humbling to be included on the prestigious list of past Corbett recipients, and a special honor for me to be selected by a blue-ribbon group of my peers. I am truly grateful for the support of my beloved NACDA family, and to the elite staffs, coaches and student-athletes at the four universities I was fortunate to serve during my career."
 
Bradshaw began his career in athletics as an assistant baseball coach at Niagara University, before becoming head coach for two seasons from 1973-74. Following a stint as alumni director at Niagara, he shifted back to athletics administration when he was named director of athletics at La Salle in 1978. During his first stint at La Salle, Bradshaw's teams won 28 conference championships, a national championship in women's field hockey, and received three men's basketball and two women's basketball NCAA Tournament bids. The Explorers also earned three consecutive MAAC Commissioner's Cups.
 
In 1986, Bradshaw became the athletics director at DePaul University, where he served until 2002. At DePaul, he was instrumental in forming the Great Midwest Conference, was tournament director for two NCAA Men's Basketball Opening Round Tournaments and an NCAA Women's Basketball Regional, guided the Blue Demons to record revenues, all-time attendance records and to a combined 13 Men's and Women's Basketball NCAA Tournament bids.
 
Bradshaw served as NACDA President during his final year as AD at DePaul in 2001-02.
 
From 2002-13, Bradshaw served as director of athletics at Temple University. At Temple, he steered the resurrection of the Owls football program, oversaw construction of basketball and football complexes and took the program through two conference changes.
 
The Owls participated in three consecutive FBS bowl games, as well as eight-straight women's and six-straight men's NCAA Division I Basketball Tournaments. For his career, basketball programs under Bradshaw's watch totaled 32 NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournament appearances at three different institutions.
 
In 2011, Temple became one of only six NCAA Division I institutions to have its men's and women's basketball teams compete in each of the previous four NCAA Tournaments. That same year, Bradshaw was recognized as NACDA Athletics Director of the Year (ADOY). In 2012, he was a finalist for the Sports Business Journal Athletics Director of the Year.

Bradshaw returned to his alma mater as interim director of athletics in 2016 before the interim tag was removed just over a year later. From the time he returned to La Salle until his retirement in 2019, Bradshaw was an integral part in maintaining a cumulative 3.12 grade point average for student-athletes. In 2016, he led the successful hosting of the Division I NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional at the Wells Fargo Center and hired 13 head coaches during his three-year tenure.

He exhibited a proven, dedicated interest in improving the fan experience, and built strong relationships and partnerships with coaches, student-athletes, alumni and stakeholders across the La Salle community. During the same period, Bradshaw also contributed to a rise in athletics fundraising, corporate sponsorship and ticket revenues. Under Bradshaw's guidance, the athletics department reached a multi-year partnership with Under Armour, La Salle's first-ever all-sport agreement with an apparel company.
 
In 2014, Bradshaw represented NACDA in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation as part of a hearing to discuss, "Promoting the Well-Being and Academic Success of College Athletes" alongside former NCAA President Dr. Mark Emmert. The hearing explored how the NCAA at the time was fulfilling its stated mission, "to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount."
 
A member of 10 Halls of Fame, including the La Salle Hall of Athletes (1995), Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame (2004), NACDA Hall of Fame (2014), Greater Buffalo Hall of Fame (2018), Philly Big 5 Hall of Fame (2019) and the Temple University Athletics Hall of Fame (2020), Bradshaw oversaw record revenues at each institution he worked with and was a pivotal part of his sport programs advancing to NCAA Championships over 100 times in 15 different sports. In 2020, Bradshaw also received the prestigious Champion of Hope Award from Coaches vs. Cancer of Philadelphia.
 
Bradshaw graduated from La Salle in 1969 with a bachelor of arts degree in pre-law and was an All-American baseball player. He did not miss an inning at second base during his sophomore through senior seasons, setting Explorer season records in many categories, including hits and RBIs. As a senior, he was second in the nation in RBIs (35) and fourth in the nation in stolen bases (22), ninth in the nation in batting average (.415) and held a .360 career batting average. In 2019, La Salle retired Bradshaw's No. 7 jersey.

Bradshaw earned a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Niagara in 1972. Following graduation, he signed a professional minor league baseball contract with the Washington Senators and played for two years, but his career was shortened after two seasons following his second broken ankle in three years. He eventually returned to La Salle as athletics director in 1978.
 
About NACDA: Now in its 58th year, NACDA is the professional and educational Association for more than 22,000 college athletics administrators at more than 2,200 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. NACDA manages 18 professional associations and four foundations. In addition to virtual programming, NACDA hosts six major professional development events in-person annually. The NACDA & Affiliates Convention is the largest gathering of collegiate athletics administrators in the country. For more information, visit www.nacda.com.