Portions of Bill Bradley's 1999 U.S. Scholar-Athlete Games Speech

"Well, I'm very pleased to be with all of you here today. I remember back in the early-70's, I wrote a little piece for some op-ed page somewhere in America urging the Olympics to broaden its concept - to be a games that dealt with more than just the fastest and strongest, but incorporated what the games were meant to be; poetry readings, drama and the like. It took a man of Dan Doyle's vision to really make such a thing happen. This will be an extraordinary experience for all you, and I salute Dan and all of those who are associated with the Scholar-Athlete Games.

Dan started with the Scholar-Athlete Games in Rhode Island in 1993, and then the Belfast Games and soon this event will be in other parts of the world. As all of you participants will see, this is an event in which you will talk about broader issues and deal with the whole person and deal with people from different countries and bring everyone together and put everyone in settings where you will all cooperate with each other, as well as learn together. This kind of event - this extraordinary event - where you have what is really quite a unique kind of mix - is a tremendous example for the world to see. This, I believe was Dan's objective back when he founded the Games. I believe he has achieved this objective. He could not have accomplished this great achievement without the strong support of Chairman Hogg, his staff and others associated with the event.

I am honored to be here today not only for my induction into the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame but to be with and honor a group of remarkable scholar-athletes and scholar-artists.

Congratulations on your participation."

Senator Bill Bradley and Justice Byron "Whizzer" White Cut the Ribbon to Open the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame Building on June 22, 1999