NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's (CCIW) 75th anniversary celebration continues with a new monthly feature titled The Decade Series.
Each month from now until June of 2021, CCIW institutions will feature one student-athlete who competed in each of the nine decades between 1946 and 2020. Institutional Sports Information Directors will conduct a video interview, which will be posted to the CCIW's YouTube channel and showcased on CCIW.org.
The series continues with
Millikin University Assistant Sports Information Director Nathan Cameron speaking with Fred Bradshaw, a 1947 graduate and former track & field, football and basketball student-athlete.
Bradshaw served in the United States Marine Corp. from 1942 until 1945 and after his military career ended, he enrolled at Millikin as an Education major. He was a member of the 1946 Big Blue football team and played against Illinois State, Eastern Illinois, Northern Illinois, Lake Forest, Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois College.
He also ran track for one year as a member of the mile relay and was part of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
After college, Bradshaw coached football at Illiopolis High School for two years, followed by two years at Auburn High School before getting sent to Korea. He came back home and coached again at Auburn for another three years, followed by two years in New Jersey, and then back against at Auburn for five more years.
He spent time as a principal and superintendent before getting a Doctorate and working for the Illinois State Department of Education.
Bradshaw was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on April 3, 1982 for his time at Auburn High School where he lost only 15 games in 10 years.
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst University (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL).