Date of birth | December 20, 1892 |
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Place of birth | Boston, Massachusetts |
Date of death | April 29, 1970 | (aged 77)
Place of death | Beverly, Massachusetts |
Career information | |
Position(s) | Halfback, Fullback |
College | Harvard University |
Frederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr. (December 20, 1892 – April 29, 1970) was an American football player. He was a first-team All-American while attending Harvard University in 1914. He was the father of American journalist Ben Bradlee.
Bradlee was born December 20, 1892 on Beacon Street in the Back Bay section of Boston, a member of a "Brahmin" Crowninshield family that had lived in Boston since the 17th century. He was the son of Eliza Whitwell Thomas and Frederick Josiah Bradlee (1866–1951).
Bradlee enrolled at Harvard University. At Harvard, Bradlee played at the halfback and fullback positions for Percy Haughton's undefeated Harvard Crimson football teams from 1912 to 1914. During Bradlee's three years as a starter for Harvard, he played on teams that included College Football Hall of Famers Huntington Hardwick, Eddie Mahan and Stan Pennock. The Harvard football team did not lose a single game from 1912 to 1914, compiling records of 9–0 in 1912, 9–0 in 1913, and 7–0–2 in 1914. At the end of the 1914 season, Bradlee was selected as a first-team All-American by Collier's Weekly as selected by Walter Camp, the Washington Herald (selected by William Peet), Boston Post (selected by Charles H. Parker), and Tom Thorp in the New York Evening Journal.
After graduating from Harvard, Bradlee married Josephine de Gersdorff (1896–1975), the daughter of prominent New York lawyer Carl August de Gersdorff, on July 3, 1917. His wife was his third cousin, sharing great-great-grandfather Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772–1851). She was daughter of artist Frederic Crowninshield (1845–1918) and niece of magazine editor Frank Crowninshield (1872–1947).