Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

- In the world of sports it's not uncommon

to star on a team with few stars.

In college basketball it's

Kevin Bradshaw of US International.

- [Rick] He was almost like watching an acrobat.

- [McKinney] He was a scoring machine.

- [Jay] The best scorer that I've ever seen.

- [Rick] He definitely broke records.

- [Reporter] Pete Maravich's 69 point mark

became Kevin Bradshaw's 72 pointer.

The record keeps Bradshaw at the top of the list

of scorers in the country but his team

is at the bottom of division one schools.

- [Theodore] Somebody who had them

kind of shooting skills wasn't drafted in the NBA.

- [Jay] He just disappeared.

I thought he had got killed.

Didn't know what he was didn't know what he was doing.

- [Kevin] I didn't come home for 20 years for a reason.

(upbeat music)

(calm music)

- [Theodore] Growing up in Gainesville you know

it was rough over in that area.

They just haven't put a whole lot

of emphasis on that side of town.

- [Keith] A lot of things were neglected

and no outlets to do anything.

All we had was a basketball court, a football field.

And that's why you had so much talent at that time

coming out of the East side of Gainesville.

- You have blacks on one side of town

you have whites on the other side.

- It's a whole different period of time then it is now.

I grew up with three channels to watch on television.

- We would take the tire rim out of an old bicycle

and we would nail it to a tree.

There would be roots.

And you didn't have a backboard

you just had to shoot the ball straight in.

So we when we would dribble we would

shave to dribble over those roots.

So when we got on a flat court it was like elementary to us.

- It was amazing to me when we finally went over

to the North side or the other side of Gainesville

and seeing that kids had lights at night.

We couldn't play at night and if we did play at night

somebody had to pull they car up with headlights

so we could play or we could just use the moon.

- That was one of the attributes to why we was so good

at playing basketball because of the conditions.

(acoustic guitar music)

Kevin, he wasn't that good.

- [Keith] He started off just average.

Nobody really wanted him on a team.

- For Kevin to just come up and to be where

this All American basketball player

I mean who would have thought it?

I mean I knew he'd probably make it and he'd be

but I think it became from his determination.

- [Keith] We grew up in a house not a home.

It's a big difference.

My dad was a very intimidating figure, a scary man.

250, ball of hell.

And when he walked the house shook.

My father could speak to you and you would shake.

So we stepped lightly in the house.

It was like walking on eggshells.

- Apparently something was happening.

Kevin would come down to the house my mom's house

crying and and didn't want to go back home.

So it I know it was something serious.

But how serious, at the time I was young I didn't know.

- I think my brother for the most part I think he caught

the worst part before he became noticed for basketball.

- If he came to the house

we were going to the basketball court.

We were going out to play ball to do something

to take his mind off of what had just happened

or what he was going through.

- Basketball was for all of us, for all the boys

in the family was like a therapy.

Just to go out to the basketball court and shoot basketball

all the time that was just like a therapy.

No matter how hot, how cold, no lights we would play.

And we played for the love of it.

- From sunup to sundown we are

out there on that basketball court.

And that's all we did was play ball constantly.

- It just a way to release and get away, dream.

You wanted to be Doctor J. you wanted to be Magic.

You know dream and get away and be happy for a while

'cause after it was over you had to go back home

and face that reality that it wasn't the Huxtables.

It was real.

- Kevin wanted to play basketball.

He was a sophomore in high school and he had played

on the freshman team then the sophomore team

and then I came in as the head coach.

- Kevin always seemed to be,

he wasn't the most talkative kid.

His personality seemed to be playing ball.

That's where he seemed to shine.

If there was some way that you could help his game

and help him with the stance and give him

some positive feedback and constructive criticism

I mean he always seemed to relish that.

You could almost see that light turn on

and there was an appreciation there.

- The Jamboree was at East Side High School.

I don't remember exactly how many points that I scored

but that night when the girls started to come

when the scouts started to call right away

when people started to look at me a little differently

after that night that's when I understood

that this is different and now I'm special.

This must be what it's like to be a star.

(contemplative music)

- Kevin was a natural I mean he's just such a scorer.

He was the most unbelievable score I'd ever been around.

He was almost like watching an acrobat.

He would start off doing one thing and then he would end up

in a whole total different position.

But yet his shoulders were always square

and he always had the same follow through.

So it enabled him to be able to shoot balls

that look like for most people he was off balance.

But he was actually right on target.

- He was tough he was physical he lathered up

as good as anybody that I've ever seen.

He played every facet of the game.

He was a great defender.

He was six four plus, skinny but rangy.

- [Rick] For Kevin to make a pass was very unusual.

So he also had a nickname as the black hole

because when it went into him you never saw daylight.

You knew the ball was gone it was gonna be up.

Most of the time it was a score.

- This is the best scorer that I've ever seen.

- I was kind of taken back by it all.

I was a young coach and I had

not had a player of that caliber.

(upbeat music)

- In the ninth grade I think we lost one game.

We had scored over 100 points.

- It was very exciting, we had two of the best players

in the state of Florida with Kevin and Vernon.

- [Kevin] We did everything together.

We hung out, we played ball, we partied, we did everything.

- [Keith] People would often debate even at that time

who were better of the two players.

- They knew the double threat was with

Kevin and Vernon but Kevin was the gun.

He was the guy everybody was shooting

for and trying to shut down.

(upbeat music)

- The difference between my junior and senior was

when we started to season everyone

knew who I was and I was the leader.

People that normally would walk by me

now wanted to have a long conversation with me.

People in the church that normally didn't say anything to me

now they were patting me on my back.

- I mean you were popular and popularity,

people want to be round you people want to be with you.

- [Kevin] Drugs started out as fun.

My senior year we would get high before games, after games.

- They used to have a thing they called season women.

During basketball season the girls

wanted to get with the guys that played basketball.

If you were good now that just add to it.

You could probably have any girl you wanted.

- If I were to score 30 points I could get

any and everything that I wanted meaning

money, girls, drugs, alcohol, weed, cocaine.

And by the time I understood that I was medicating myself

with drugs I was deep deep into it.

Once you score 30 points you can no longer average 20.

Then you're not the same, then your average.

If I were to walk out of a game

with 20 points I would be depressed

as crazy as that may sound.

- People used to think it was so great.

Kevin Bradshaw is your brother oh he's did this.

I knew my brother.

I knew him the person he was.

I knew what he was going through privately

And so it was not what people try to make it out to be.

I remember waiting for my brother to come home after

a basketball game in high school.

And he would never come through the front door.

I would always have to leave the window open

because he would come home drunk or high.

He was never happy.

- He was holding a lot of stuff inside

that he really wouldn't let people know about.

And I think that's why he was so angry.

Any little thing would set him off.

And Kevin he wasn't afraid to fight.

- It was a different ballgame on the southeast side of town

as far as the way the blacks were treated.

There was not a lot of mixing between

the races as for his relationships.

I didn't hate white's at the beginning.

I think gradually as time went on I began to hate.

Well I'm in seventh grade in middle school

and I have a question that I wanted to ask.

I was excited and I made a mistake when I asked it.

And then when I completed, finished asked my question

she said you know all you niggers are the same.

All you niggers are dumb.

Immediately I remember stuttering from that point on.

So the first opportunity you have to do something

to a white person you can justify it.

During the 70's they would bring kids from different parts

of the city to go to school over there with the black kids.

On the last day of school the bell

would ring and as these students were headed

to the bus the white students,

the black kids would swing on them beat him up.

I knew it was absolutely wrong and the people

that we did it to had done nothing to deserve this.

It was something I don't remember

reading about it in the papers.

I was there to experience it for three years

in middle school this was never really talked about.

Maybe because the tension between

the races in Gainesville at that time.

(upbeat music)

Gainesville was crazy for the Gators.

It was Gator Town.

- [Adolph] A lot of people were expecting

Kevin to go to the University of Florida.

He was highly recruited.

He was practicing with the team

on a daily basis pretty much.

- The University of Florida really liked Kevin.

You got the state's top scorer I mean--

- A young athlete and the kind of talent he had

and he had a lot of schools that were pursuing him.

- [Adolph] When you come for that visit of course

they're gonna roll out the red carpet for you.

The girls, the limo.

- At that time pretty much we had been recruited heavily.

There are certain females at every school

that are known to help support the basketball program.

Let's put it that way.

It was pretty much what do you need what do you want?

If it's drugs the drugs are there.

If it's sex the sex is there.

So that blew my mind as a young man.

(contemplative music)

- His parents wanted him to to go to

a predominantly black college.

He struggled with that.

He wanted to be there for his mom of course

and he wanted to try to make his father happy too.

He put them first.

- Norm Sloan came to my high school.

He first goes off about my grades

then he puts the scholarship on the table.

And he said sign this.

And I looked at him and told him

I wanted to speak to my parents about it.

And one of the things that insulted me the most

about the conversation with Norm Sloane was

when he saw my grades he told me what a terrible student

I was but then he said it can be fixed.

But according to your grades I don't think you're capable

of taking these regular classes so it's your choice.

And I just told him I'm not gonna sign it.

- And he called me and said that he would like to

join the force because he liked the institution,

not too far from home and the whole ball of wax.

- It was a black college and he thought that

the experience there was going to be

a better experience than going anywhere else.

- It was not my choice for him but he felt like

he would be more comfortable there

and so he chose Bethune Cookman.

- Kevin danced to his own beat a little bit.

- Me going to Bethune Cookman I had

no idea would caused such controversy.

The majority of people in Gainesville thought I was crazy

for choosing Bethune Cookman over the University of Florida.

The University of Florida ran the city.

So for me to go against that big machine

was ridiculous in many people's mind.

- We're a small close knit community in Gainesville

and everybody feels like that you're

one of theirs you got to stay here.

- The majority of people just turned their backs on me.

- People who gravitated towards him one day

and the next day wanted nothing to do with him.

- Even some blacks were saying I was crazy for choosing

to go to an all black school which kind of confused me.

I was sure that the majority of

the black people would understand okay

I was taking my talent to a black University.

- People will just walk up to him and call him a nigger.

You're nothing, you'll never make nothing out your life.

- I couldn't go anywhere without being

looked at or talked to a certain way.

(contemplative music)

When I left to go off to Bethune Cookman

it was a relief because I felt the pressure

of not being wanted in Gainesville anymore.

It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulder.

- This big smile starting out.

Wait a minute.

The Daytona Beach area has so much to offer our visitors

but I would have to say that the biggest attraction

will always be our world famous beach.

(upbeat music)

- Everybody looked at Daytona Beach

as spring break, a place to go.

Spring Break only happens over on the beach side.

There's no happening over on the college side.

- The first time I started second guessing myself

about the decision of going to Bethune Cookman

probably was after I arrived on campus,

and I was there for maybe two weeks,

and then I started to understand

that this is not the University of Florida

where I have all these resources.

- They didn't have the money.

They didn't have the scholarships.

They didn't have the materials.

- You look forward to doing certain things

or you're promised certain things if you come to my school

and then when you get there then

it's something entirely different.

(upbeat music)

- [Jack] The school sits red in the middle of the ghetto.

- A southern black school you go to

is gonna be in the projects.

You could probably throw a rock to the projects.

- Around Bethune Cookman you only have liquor stores.

- We had the ABC Liquor Lounge, we had the 440 club.

- The gas station that you have is next

to Bethune Cookman where they sell nothing but beer.

- [Kenny] If you go down Second Avenue

the way they tell us not to go

that whole street going through those projects

was nothing but a lot of drugs.

- So it wasn't nothing positive around Bethune Cookman.

- And then I started to continue to get

the negative feedback from Gainesville.

And there are a few articles written and that's when

I think I started to feel shameful

about signing with the small school versus

the University of Florida.

The success at Bethune Cookman I couldn't enjoy

because you couldn't compare it to the success of my

peers that played at University of Florida.

Vernon had told me that wherever I chose

to go to school he would go there.

But after he signed with the University of Florida

we kind of lost touch with each other.

And I'm looking at my best friend being a star on television

and you're not on the local news.

So even if you're averaging the same amount of points

and you're doing the same thing no one knows it.

- Nobody cared if you went to Bethune Cookman

and played basketball or football who cares?

- [Kevin] It got to a point that no matter what I did

at Bethune on the court I wasn't satisfied.

(somber music)

- Daytona Beach at that time was like wide open.

It was the 80's and a lot of things were moving.

It was a death trap really because

it would consume your whole life.

All you want to do is go party and do different things.

- Kevin was the best basketball player on the team.

He didn't have no problem with the ladies.

- [Kevin] I think women became an addiction to me then.

I could do drugs, alcohol, and be with a woman

and yet have so much pain inside.

- Now they have the big fences around and the security.

Back then you were be in practice

and people would be from the city

would be right there in the gym.

- We had one security guard to take care of the campus.

- The drug dealers wanted to hang around him.

So it was easy for him to score drugs.

He'd leave off with those guys

and when he come back you know he's so high.

- He'd just disappear and I say you're doing something.

Now what it is I don't have any idea

but whatever it is it's wrong.

But by time I start preaching to him it was late.

- I think he averaged like

17 points a game his freshman year.

People started knowing who he was.

So once people knew we was then

you have to have that little chip on the shoulder

and I thought he had that chip.

That's what made him a great athlete I think.

He didn't take no crap from his teammates.

- If you are nice and easy you

ain't gonna last long in basketball.

You don't want them crazy but you want them tough.

- Lot of little things happened around campus.

You might have a fight in the dorms.

They might beat up somebody in

the dorms or something like that.

- No he wasn't a evil person but boy when

he get mad though you can't stop him.

- So this particular night I went

to this club down in the bottom.

We got drunk, we got high and then I got in

a confrontation with a man from Daytona.

And I proceeded to go out to the car

get a gun which was in the car which we usually had around.

- He's sitting there on the back of a car

like mad and drunk and crying with a gun on his lap.

Kevin goes in and take a chair and sit in the middle

of the dance floor just sit there with the gun.

- I was so out of it and I was like just going off

and daring anyone to come near me and touch me.

I cocked the gun and I was sitting there with it.

And it's like suicide.

I was out of my mind during that time.

- He never went to class.

He never got up in the morning.

- His grade average start academically

started dropping down and we called him in.

- The night that coach McLaren explained to me

that I would be dismissed from school

because of my grades and because of my behavior I lost it.

I went off on him, cursed him, begged in.

Meeting I went over to the dorm I destroyed my room.

And then I didn't know what the hell I was gonna do.

I couldn't go back to Gainesville because of the shame.

It goes back to you believing that

what everyone was saying about you is true.

You're a failure, your dumb,

you didn't take advantage of your talent.

I didn't have any money.

I had a daughter that was on the way

and the only way I could support my family

in a legal way and make enough money

to support them would be join the military.

(acoustic piano music)

One word to describe life on the ship would be disaster.

Too many rules, chain of command,

people are talking to you like crap

and having you sweep floors.

No one's giving me credit for the fact

that I can jump or shoot a basketball.

That's a different life than what

I had experienced being a star athlete.

- When you're in the military trouble

come from all different angles.

It can be a personality thing.

It can be a color thing.

- All of a sudden I had to be responsible for my actions.

And there are consequences that

you have to pay and you pay them.

(acoustic piano music)

The worst thing about being in the ship cell

is just been isolated and having to talk to yourself.

Because there's no one to curse out or argue.

And you pretty much are looked at like a stupid person

if you're doing it by other shipmates.

I really wanted to get out of the Navy.

The way I was told to get kicked off was to

walk up to the captain and tell him that

I like being with men and that I found him attractive.

I was going to walk up to this man and tell him that.

But when my friends told me about it

and they understood I was serious

they took me off for a beer and kind of talked me out of it.

They could see that I was depressed and pissed off and angry

and they knew that I was close to doing it.

- I was a engine man in the Navy.

I did have a reputation of being

a hard ass, asshole, dickhead.

If you messed up basically that's

where they send you down to see Earl.

Earl the prison camp engine room.

Once you was in there it's like a prison camp.

Kevin was a big knucklehead when he came to me.

Walk around like he was a space cadet.

Tell him to do something he give

you that oh go fuck off look.

- I thought it was crazy I didn't like him.

- It had a lot to do with well you're black

I'm black so you ain't gonna make me do too much.

And I be like Kevin you know this is a job.

- His famous sentence was just because you're black

and I'm back don't think I won't

throw your black ass under the boat.

You better do your job.

- You ain't at home with mother.

Kevin you in the Navy, you a man.

You got to do what the man got to do, suck it up.

- We even had a physical confrontation

once in the diesel room.

He didn't write me up and he just told me

if you want to do this game tomorrow we can do it again.

- It was just tough love you know.

And after awhile me and Kevin got to going

so I invited him to my house.

- McKinney I looked at him like Fred Sanford.

The he speaks he's from Southeast Saint Louis.

We had a lot of the same thoughts we had the same mentality

but we'd never discussed race before.

- Kevin had never met my wife or my kid.

- And then his Scottish beautiful

white woman opens the door.

- He's like oh how you doing Mrs. McKinney?

But he had to look like I can't believe

married to a white woman.

- This white woman from Scotland I just don't get it.

I don't see the connection.

I'm assuming like this had to be a joke

because McKinney was a little bit of a prankster as well.

- When I first seen him the big dumb looking

guy from Florida, that's the look he had on his face.

- But then when I sat down and saw his two daughters

and his wife then I understood it was real.

- And I think that helped him start to get at ease

with people and take the damn chip off your shoulder.

- You know I had certain perception or

certain belief about whites at the time.

It just further helped me understand it has to do with

who you are not not the color of your skin.

- [Announcer] They were selected as cadets

partly for their physical fitness.

And one way they are kept in tip top condition

is by the intramural sports program.

- The first time McKinney talked to me about basketball

they were getting ready to form a ship's team.

He asked me if I could play and I told him

I used to play a little bit and he said

the same thing that most people have said in my past.

That I didn't look like I could play any effing basketball.

- Kevin look more like that cartoon that big vulture.

He just had that look like he was uncoordinated.

- I told him at the beginning no

I'm not really that interested in playing.

But because he was my boss he kind of

persuaded me that by coming over--

- The only reason you came out there

truthfully was to prove me wrong.

- Hadn't said a whole lot to anybody

and nobody really knew who he was.

Came out and man.

- I've never seen a guy hit so many baskets

where there's nothing but the bottom of the net.

- Once I picked up a basketball the love

was right back to me and I loved it.

I stayed away from it and I feared it

but once I picked it up and I started playing

and then I was playing with these guys who were just fun.

Like I said it wasn't for money

or a scholarship it was just for ships team.

- When we stepped out on the hardwood floor

it wasn't about me being a Chief and Kevin being an E2.

It was about me being T and Kevin being Kevin.

- Whether we won or lost there was never an argument.

- We were truly brothers on the court.

- On the submarines one person

had to depend on the other person.

Dream team was a family.

- Love of the game just came right back to me.

- [McKinney] We went from sand lot to having a ship's team

to a base team to where we considered ourselves

the Dream Team, our travelling team.

- It consisted of guys from my ship

from the base all over San Diego.

What we did was travel around play on different tournaments.

Group of guys that just played

basketball for the right reasons.

- We were unbeatable.

Wherever we went we just blew people off the floor.

Each one of us had a specific trait

when it came to playing basketball.

Kevin was a scorer.

- [McKinney] He was a scoring machine.

- The score would be 25 to 25 and Kevin

would have had all 25 of those points.

And he was a monster man this kid could

get up and down the floor he was a greyhound.

- Everybody knew who to give the ball to.

It wasn't rocket science you know what I'm saying?

- There wasn't a whole lot of teams

especially in the San Diego area that could beat us.

- Every year that we played Brad just

kept taking this game to another level.

And he went to play All Navy I think he played

if I'm not mistaken he played with David Robinson.

- And I was always surprised when

I would go out and I would find in places

I least expected these really talented guys.

And I remember Kevin striking me as one of those guys that

man you know maybe you're just not in

the right place at the right time

'cause man you can really play.

- I'm playing with this this awesome guy

this seven foot two All American

and he's complimenting my game.

- I used to call him PAM 'cause would score so quickly.

He could he could put up numbers at a ridiculous pace

and he had no conscious would shoot it at the drop of a dime

and so I called him PAM point a minute man.

- David Robinson influenced me by just

treating the sport for what it was, a basketball game.

Because my idea of a top athlete at the time

was a person that if you can put

the ball in the hoop then you're special.

And Dave Robeson did not walk around like he was special.

He walked around like he was just

the next man on a regular job.

(acoustic guitar music)

- Hanging around these guys they took Kevin

out of the riffraff part of the Navy.

All they did play basketball go to camps and tournaments.

That kept his mind busy where he wasn't getting in trouble.

- Military it took away a lot of the elements.

- We didn't have to get drunk or high

after a big victory to celebrate it.

Or we didn't have to get drunk of high

after loss to heal our wounds.

- On the road trips Kevin never wanted to hang out with us.

He would always just go back to the room and

be content with that.

The rest of us we were ready to go to the casino.

But Kevin was different.

- He's got a nickname by the name of Milk and Cookies

He would always say when you guys come back

make sure you bring me some milk and cookies.

Bring me some milk and cookies.

- I mean when we thought about Kevin at the store

that's what we got him.

- He was a milk and cookies type of guy.

- And everybody in San Diego County

talked about Kevin Bradshaw.

- [Wilson] Until he caught the eye of

one the college assistant coaches.

- When it was all said and done

when Kevin got out of the Navy

he got a scholarship for two years

because he had two years of eligibility and he went out

to USIU and just broke every record they had.

(classical music)

- [Announcer] The United States International University

a school that epitomizes what San Diego is all about.

An international campus head quartered in San Diego,

USIU spans four major countries in the world

that share in this tradition of a high level of education.

- General McLennan called me and he said

Susan I have a favor to ask you.

Kevin wants to study physical education

and he's apparently a very good player

but he has a grade point of an average of 1.97.

If you will take him into your program and work with him

then I think we can bring him into the University.

And so I think two nights a week we had study sessions.

And he was very nice, very respectful, yes Dr. Bandy.

And so it was it was a good beginning.

- [Woody] The team wasn't very good

but they had Kevin Bradshaw.

He would light it up every night.

- [Wilson] He just basically took over

the whole game the majority of the time.

- I couldn't believe what I was looking at

in San Diego County, tremendous talent.

What impressed me the most was his

vertical when he jumped and shot.

And he was making everything.

- USIU was a very entertaining team

because we scored points and fans love to see that.

- It was fast it was furious.

If you scored 100 points a game even if you were losing

you would get a lot of attention for the offense.

- We wanted to scorer and we got notoriety for that

and Kevin led the nation as everybody knows

in scoring that particular year.

- [Woody] Fans used to say who is

this little school from USIU?

They scoring 100 points.

- All of a sudden the phone was ringing

all over the country wanting to play us.

No name school so to speak didn't draw

in the big school arenas even though

they sold their tickets out.

Well now they're after us because

everybody wants to watch us play.

We didn't really know when I was there

when I signed on with the school

that there were financial problems in the background.

So what eventually happened when the university

did go bankrupt we were on the road.

It was all over the news and it was even on

the major news national stations.

May have been one of the first schools

with a division one program that filed for bankruptcy.

- People were leaving the university.

I wasn't paid for three months.

Then they began to assess different programs and

one of them was the the athletic program which they cut.

- We went from having I believe five,

six coaches to just one coach.

We went from having an athletic trainer to no trainer.

So we were going to the opposing teams gym

and their trainer would have to tape my ankles.

We didn't have any resources.

- And we had a practice facility in a warehouse.

- [Jeff] We'd be practicing on one end of the court.

On the other end of the court they had

50 or 60 year old women doing aerobics.

- The school depended on money.

That's how we made our money at the university

was playing the big schools like Arkansas, Oklahoma.

- When the bankruptcy hit we had some parents

pull their kids out of school including some of my players.

Night after night double team.

They had great basketball players amongst

every division one team and they ended up on Kevin.

His background showed the fighter in him

because when he went out every night

he just got beat up a lot and that's why we would kind of

sit down together after a game 'cause he was wounded.

He was a wounded warrior.

(upbeat music)

- [Reporter] The LA gear college basketball report.

- Welcome back once again to ABC's college basketball.

In the world of sports it's not uncommon

to star on a team with few stars.

Cecil Fielder hit 51 home runs for the Detroit Tigers.

In college basketball it's Kevin

Bradshaw of US international.

- The school file for bankruptcy I believe in December.

And I broke the record in January.

- We had been getting a lot of national attention

for a little school because we were

running and scoring a lot of points.

We walked into the gym and the media

was everywhere just everywhere and it was

at Loyola Marymount and it was just packed that night.

And there was something special about that night though

because the game started out and it was

just a firecracker game and we were hitting

and they were it but Kevin was hitting everything.

- We started taking down his points

just marking it on a piece of paper a the other games.

At this game we stopped because I didn't want to miss

no moment or what he was doing and he was amazing.

It's like he would kick the ball let it bounce

off his knee and it would go in the hoop.

He could not miss a shot.

- Four or five minutes away from half

and this guy sitting next to me

he says coach I need to tell you something.

Bradshaw has like 45 points before half.

Do you know that Maravich was at

the same pace Pistol Pete?

I said you're kidding me, we had no idea.

- I had no idea who Pistol Pete was.

I just went in like I normally did.

I mean that year I had scored over 50 points five times.

- And of course we all know what a legend

Pistol Pete Maravich was and I was thinking in my head.

Uh oh so we took it to the team.

And in that particular time the team got excited because

what the university was going through wasn't too exciting.

So that night could have become memorable

for everybody forever and they were so fired up.

I never saw him come together with such emotion

to go back out there on the floor and help Kevin.

So we went back out and I remember

the reporters were now buzzing up and down the table.

Fans were starting to buzz.

So right off the bat you know Kevin

struggled at first because they were just all over him.

They started double teaming.

They were picking him up at full court.

Wherever he went he was running out of gas.

And we got into the mid 60's and I looked up

and there was about two minutes to go.

And the record I believe was 69.

Every time Kevin scored Loyola Jim was rooting for him.

It just turned like that.

- Every time he was score everybody would stand up.

And my players are running out of gas

'cause some of them weren't even being guarded.

Sure enough it got down to about a minute,

under that and he was at 68.

He scored the 69th and 70th on free throws.

- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen Kevin Bradshaw

has just set a new all time NCAA

single game scoring record of 70 points.

- We were drained, it was a different game.

And his players rushed up to him and then that

the papers were going crazy because it was 72 points.

On a record that some people never thought

would be broken and here it is today it's still there.

- I thought it was fantastic

'cause I knew he was capable of doing it.

(calm music)

- It was kind of strange because in San Diego

it wasn't as positive as I thought it would be.

- ABC did some stuff about it, ESPN it was out there

but maybe not as big as we all

would have liked quite frankly.

- [Reporter] By the end of the game Pete Maravich's

69 point mark became Kevin Bradshaw's 72 pointer.

The record keeps Bradshaw at the top of

the list of scores in the country

but his team is at the bottom of division one schools

and next year won't even be on that list.

- Breaking Pistol Pete's record I know was

one of those records like untouchable and no one wanted

especially a guy like Kevin Bradshaw

from a team like USIU to break a record like that

from a smaller division one school.

- We went from major D1 school from USIU,

school that was going bankrupt.

It was not known for sports.

And a lot of people's like it's

not supposed to happen that way.

- Consequences came we got some hate calls

and we got some hate mail and there were some racial

things that were being said mainly from people

who are just fans of the game and couldn't believe

a legend would be broken by somebody in a low major program.

Some of the real purist and some of

the traditional press and fan base thought that

he took like 55 shots or something well so did Pistol Pete.

- I like the way Kevin handled it.

I mean he was just nonchalant okay just this is what I do.

- I don't worry about what the critics say.

My main concern is right now everyone knows who I am.

- So he goes out and he scores but it was not

celebrated as I thought it should have been.

- Everyone was saying we can't wait for draft day.

You're gonna be drafted it's gonna be a great day.

What pick, what round do you think you're gonna go in?

And all the expectations are on you because if you make this

then everyone else is gonna benefit from that.

So family in Florida they're happy for you

but you just saying my God what if this doesn't work out?

I hope I get drafted because if I don't

I don't have $2 in the bank.

Got to the point where you couldn't sleep.

Instead of the sport been a fun game

it goes back into being a business deal.

Draft comes up in June.

The agency that I was involved with at the time

after leading the nation in scoring,

after scoring the 72 points they thought

it might be a good idea to get him in the gym

three weeks prior and change my jump shot.

Also they thought it might be a good strategy

to show everyone that I could pass versus shoot.

So I am also not playing my natural game which is scoring.

And that goes back to the people pleasing.

Just listening to people that I knew in the back

of my mind I should not be listening to.

Draft day I was at home watching the draft

with my my then wife and two agents.

It was like torture sitting there

and having to watch each and every one be called.

And in my heart and in my soul

I kind of knew that it wasn't going to happen.

If that sounds crazy but you're still hoping.

It was a nightmare.

- I mean I set up and watched the draft that whole night.

His name was never called.

- I wasn't really upset because I didn't get drafted.

I just feel like I let everyone down

and everyone expected me to get drafted

and that's where the shame started to come back in.

- Somebody who broke a record like that who had

them kind of shooting skills wasn't drafted in the NBA.

That was, that blew my mind, I couldn't understand it.

- Seeing kids get drafted around the college that

they couldn't even, they couldn't carry his ball bag.

That's how great he was.

- They're coming to watch him fill it up

and he's passing off trying to prove to everybody

that he can do some other things.

And there's probably a little bit of miscommunication there.

- If he'd have been at a good college

where he could have kind of gone out

and done his thing absolutely could have made it.

- Not going to one college, staying at one college

graduating and playing the four years

I think really hurt him but nobody can

take away the fact he scored 72 in one game

and averaged 37 or 38 points a game

in college which led the nation.

So it doesn't, the numbers don't add up.

- He was told that if he break that record

that he wouldn't play in the NBA.

- Seeing how people treated Hank Aaron

when he broke Babe Ruth's record and my brother

wasn't even on the NBA level yet and I've seen

the backlash that he got and I feel like that affected him

greatly for people even giving him a chance.

- Having the kind of stats that he had

Kevin was one of the best basketball players in the country.

What other reason could there have been?

- I mean I look at some of the NBA teams today

and some of the players that come in the game and

I said to myself it could use

Bradshaw on that team trust me.

- I think he would have set all kind of records.

- Back then I was very angry very bitter

towards a lot of people but now being older

everything happens for a reason.

Who's to say what would have really happen?

Had my brother gone, didn't go overseas.

I felt like he became a better man

by the path that he took.

- When I didn't get drafted I called home.

My mom trying to console me,

she was trying to say the right things.

And then she gave my dad the phone.

And then my dad he couldn't get through

a full conversation, a sentence with me.

He started to cry and he put the phone down.

Pam leaves me my wife.

I have no place to stay now.

I was sleeping on park benches and I would

walk around downtown San Diego homeless.

No one knew that when I'm calling home

I'm calling from a pay phone.

I was ashamed to tell them.

I was ashamed to tell anyone

that I was sleeping on the streets.

Because after I accomplished all these things

doing all these things that I felt was right,

joining the military to support my wife

getting married to Pam because I thought

it was the right thing to do because she got pregnant.

Of course I felt ashamed

and I didn't want to tell them that.

So I was just done.

- And he was thinking about dropping out of school there.

I told me get your degree, get your degree.

They can't take that from you.

That's something you'll always have.

- Imagine being on a campus two years prior

where it's just blossoming with hundreds of people

thousands of people walking around

and it's this positive energy going around

and then all of a sudden you go from thousands

of students to maybe a few hundred.

And then there's no athletes on campus.

Now I sit at a table in the cafeteria by myself

just sitting there saying how did this happen?

- To his credit he did it, he stayed the course.

Even after his basketball career

was over there he stayed and finished.

- He got his degree a year later.

- Was just marvelous yeah.

You didn't know what was going to happen to him

but at least something good.

- After I graduated from school two weeks afterwards

I got a call saying do you want to come to Israel.

First thing that went to my mind

when I got a phone call to play basketball

in Israel was yeah I'll go try it out.

Maybe I'll be there for a month, two weeks

at the most a year get a little money,

come back to the states and work on my masters.

(calm music)

I got off the airplane with about 20 bucks

in my pocket in a different country.

The living conditions are different.

If you take a middle class neighborhood here

that will be considered an upper scale thing in Israel.

Restaurant that might be considered

not so good in the states will be

a high level restaurant in Israel.

So coming from California

my lifestyle was a little different.

I immediately got on the phone with the guy who had

arranged the contract and told him that I wanted to leave.

I just wasn't used to all the guns that I saw,

the bombs that you could be in a place and it could blow up.

When I first arrived in Israel I was bitter.

You had these flashbacks of playing in

these big arenas and and also meeting people

like Dave Robinson and my good friend Vernon.

So you sitting back and you watching

television and you seeing all these guys.

And then you're playing in this dungeon.

(crowd cheering)

My first week in Israel still you know sobbing and

thinking how the world has screwed me over

and how bad I have it and as I'm walking downtown

by myself this bus, city bus drives by me.

And then all of a sudden it goes up in the air

and then you see all these body parts just shooting out.

I mean it goes up maybe 15 feet in the air.

And then it just boom, it goes everywhere.

And that was a moment that I'll never forget because

I remember thinking like the people that are on that bus

didn't know that they were gonna be blowing up that day

and their families didn't know that

they're not gonna come home and here I was

excuse my language bitching and complaining

about I didn't get drafted to the NBA.

And that put life in more of perspective for me

and I thought about home I thought about people.

If I were to blow up with that bus

a lot of people back home wouldn't know it

because I'm not in contact with them.

(contemplative music)

Israelis are brutally honest.

I was telling them how many points I scored

average in college and scored 72 points in a game.

And they pretty much just laughed and said no way

you're crazy, you didn't score that many points.

And at a time the way I was playing didn't

it didn't appear that I could score 72 points

because I was trying to pass the ball

and show that I was a team player.

The manager was honest enough to step to me

approach me and tell me if you don't do this

the next practice game yeah we like you

but we're gonna have to get rid of you.

And that was the first time I started to say okay

I need to do what I'm good at which is score the basketball.

And that's what they loved.

(upbeat music)

That game I scored about over 30 points

and that's when we started to believe

that I was the scorer that I said I was.

- He broke a lot of records over there.

You know Kevin he did a lot and they loved him over there.

(upbeat music)

- The manager approached me before

midway through the basketball season

and he told me you scored 72 points.

Do you think you could do that again?

And I thought probably.

He said okay if you could score 72 points tonight

I'll double your salary for two months.

I needed the money.

And I ended up scoring 101 points that night.

(upbeat music)

I just shot the ball.

(laughing)

The night that I scored 101 points

one of the comments that a reporter had written

in the paper was he's a great scorer

but the reason he's not in the NBA

is because he can't use his left hand.

And then when I heard back from people in the states

the comment was oh yeah but

it's in Europe it's not in the States.

- They'll love you for your accomplishment

but still you gonna have a lot

of people out there also resent you.

Even through all this success

over there he wasn't satisfied.

But you have to find your own inner peace and until

Kevin find that home just wasn't the place for him.

And I think that's why he stayed away for so long.

- First time I met Karen I was out with a basketball player.

The town that he was playing in

that's the town that Karen was from.

I would try to say something to her

just something like hey how you doing what's up?

And she didn't respond she just looked at me.

And then one day she just told me

like why are you speaking to me I don't know you?

And I said sure I want to get to know you.

She said I don't I don't want to get to know you.

We became friends.

That was the first woman

that I actually became a friend with.

She was there I could call her

one o'clock in the morning if it was a bad game.

If I just broken up with one of the girls

a girlfriend that I had over in Israel

she told me how she felt about things.

And that wasn't something I was used to coming from

anyone and especially from a woman.

And if I was trying to you know this woman did this

and she would you know you did this.

The biggest influence that Karen had on me as a man

was just to take responsibility for my own actions,

not to blame everyone and everyone around me

and to understand that I'm in control of my own destiny.

Her vision of life was totally different

from anyone I've ever met before.

I mean and sports, she hates basketball.

She could care less what I did on the basketball court.

It didn't mean anything to her.

So that's what made her even more special.

(acoustic piano music)

When I got injured in 1995 I got cut from my team.

When it took the spotlight off of me

I thought it was a curse.

I believed like something someone

had put a curse on me or something like that.

Being homeless in the states is nothing

compared to being in a different country without a job

and not having a place to come back to.

I was like a broken man.

I was being screwed out of my money

and she told me these are bad people.

This is what they're trying to do to you.

Don't sign anything and come with me.

And she was living in the North of Israel.

A young Kevin Bradshaw could have never lived

in the Kibbutz for a few reasons.

I would judge these people on their color or their religion.

Second I would have been violent.

The first time someone would have said something to me

or looked at me crazy I would have probably swung on them.

This woman was working two jobs going to school

and I set up in her home for about six months.

And that's when I was at rock bottom.

I had no money, no connection with the family.

So I felt I had nothing to live for.

Kind of overwhelming to even be with Karen

because here is this good pure person.

I didn't feel that I should be in the same room with her.

But sometimes when you hit rock bottom

that's when you become your best.

And that's what my life took a turn.

It started to take a turn from that point.

I had a gun which is something

which comes familiar in this story.

And my plan was to go outside

and blow my brains out.

As I was leaving home at the time

she looked at me and told me that she loved me.

And she said you're not gonna do anything crazy are you?

Because she just said I see a different look in you.

And she felt something.

And I did too I told her what I was thinking about doing.

And she told me if I loved her I wouldn't do it.

And that's why I say she saved my life.

And she told me I love you you know you have so much

so many good things inside of you.

And you're a good person you're a good man

and I'm with you no matter what.

So you want to go kill yourself?

How selfish is that?

I left the house had time to myself

thought about it and came back home.

I love Karen.

I didn't know what love was until I met her.

(acoustic piano music)

The birth of my son Deshawn was the most special

occasion in my life because it was the first time

that I had an opportunity to witness the birth of my child.

I can't think of a word that would justify or explain

the feeling that we had when he entered the world.

This is the best gift I believe a woman

and God can give to a man is a child.

In 1985 I don't think I was prepared to be a good parent

simply because I didn't have parenting skills.

One I was still involved in drugs.

Two I was still violent.

This is the first time that I got

to experience the whole pregnancy.

Because Karen and I were married.

(acoustic piano music)

I believe my fourth year in Israel was when I accepted

that this was the place that I wanted to

play the rest of my basketball career.

I just fell in love with the culture.

I fell in love with the people.

In Israel I was the first African American coach

at the high school and professional level.

Some people may look at it as a racist country

because it's a Jewish state but it's

the most inclusive place that I've been.

When I won the three championships

in Israel it was bittersweet.

Great memories, great time but again

the bitter part was not being able to do it

back home with friends and family.

Just doing it on your own.

- Once he went over to Europe to play

we just kind of lost track of him.

- Didn't know where he was didn't know what he was doing

and everybody from Gainesville that I brought up

had asked about him they didn't know where he was either.

- When I lost touch with Kevin I thought he had got killed

because he was so much involved in a lot of craziness.

- Friends they asked me how can you not go home?

How can you not see this or see that.

I didn't come home for 20 years for a reason.

And I think part of the reason is

when you are getting healthy it doesn't happen overnight.

I wasn't ready to come back home.

It's that simple it's not like

I couldn't afford to come back home.

I just wasn't ready.

After my son was born Deshawn again I became angry because

I wasn't in contact with my family.

And my son being born was just that

thing that tipped me over to say you have to stop this.

And then the healing began.

- We've been looking forward to Kevin

coming home for a long time and I'm just

I'm really looking forward to seeing him.

♪ A little cracked

♪ I know we're choking

- I knew once I came home and opened that door

there's no turning back.

♪ You come with ties

- If I'm bringing my kid to Gainesville to meet the family

that means now this relationship is forever.

♪ No one will bend until one falls ♪

- [Kevin] There's no right formula for this meeting.

I mean you never know what to expect.

♪ You for me and me for you

- [Kevin] I came home for Christmas in December of 1991

and that's the last time I had seen my family.

♪ It's like trying to teach

♪ Blue to a blind man

♪ Rude to a kind man

♪ Or walking on the son

♪ You try and I do all that I can ♪

♪ But teaching blue to a blind man ♪

♪ Can't be done

♪ We used our soldiers

♪ And it was against the world

♪ The toll was taken now

♪ We're buried under life--

- I can pretty much have a story for every street I pass.

♪ One word and watch our egos brawl ♪

♪ No one will bend until one falls ♪

♪ We used to fight but

♪ You for me and me for you

♪ It's like trying to teach blue to a blind man ♪

♪ Truth a lie and walking on the sun ♪

♪ I try and I do all that I can ♪

♪ But teaching blue to a blind man ♪

♪ Can't be done

♪ We can go home

♪ You can sleep

♪ And I can think for a while

♪ We can't go on and on on empty ♪

♪ On endless oceans dry

♪ It's like trying to teach blue to a blind man ♪

♪ Rude to a kind man

♪ Screaming at the sun

♪ You try and I do all that I can ♪

♪ But teaching blue to a blind mind ♪

♪ Can't be done

♪ Can't be done

♪ Teaching blue to a blind man

- I'm gonna show you where I played my basketball games.

All of our home games were played here.

So these are all the basketball teams from every year.

Number 22.

You see that?

- [Deshawn] Over there?

- That's how many points I averaged

and this is my teammate Vernon Maxwell who won 24 games.

How many did we lose?

- Seven.

So that was a long time ago?

- A very long time ago. (laughing)

Oh wow that was almost in there man.

Now do it underhand way, do it underhand.

Man that was pretty good.

This is a big goal you know this.

This is the goal that I played my games on.

What do you think about the gym?

Do you like it?

- I like it.

- You think you could play here?

- Yeah.

- Would you like to play here?

- Yes.

- But we live in California.

- So I could move here.

- Oh we should move here?

- No I could move.

When I'm a grown up I could move here.

I have to play basketball like you did.

- So in high school you want us to move here?

And then you want to play in this gym.

What number you gonna wear?

- 24.

- Alright, no last shot, last shot we do it on underhand.

Underhand like this, like this.

- Yeah I know.

- You don't have to impress them they'll be okay, last one.

Oh that was almost, almost I saw that one going in.

I'm telling you if you do it underhand you gonna make it.

If you hit it off the glass underhand you gonna make it.

Wow man you almost made it.

(contemplative music)

(acoustic piano music)

(contemplative music)