Lindell Bradley, first Black student-athlete, brings good luck in South Carolina's series win
There are plenty of unwritten rules in baseball. One of them is to never bounce a ceremonial first pitch.
At his age, Lindell Bradley probably couldn’t get the ball from the mound to home plate on a line. So he took a few steps in front of the hill as he geared up to throw his first pitch on Sunday.
He reared back and fired a perfect strike down the pipe to Lee Ellis on the receiving end. As the ball crossed the plate, he pumped his fist and met Ellis halfway to get the ball back and shake hands. It was the culmination of a perfect weekend.
“He actually threw a dart today for a strike on the mound, so that was pretty cool too. He’s still got it,” Dylan Eskew said.
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Bradley, the first African-American student-athlete at South Carolina, was honored at Founders Park this past weekend. He was recruited to play baseball for the Gamecocks back in 1967. He’d play for the freshman team in 1968, make the varsity squad the next year, and then decided to focus on his studies in 1970.
“Obviously what he’s done for this university is obviously now very well documented,” Mark Kingston said. “I’m so happy we were able to honor him with an entire weekend. He spoke to our team Friday and our kids were very excited to meet somebody so noteworthy. And then he threw out the first pitch today.”
Before Friday’s game against Kentucky, Bradley met with the players and spoke to them about his journey as well as provided plenty of advice. And the players absolutely loved it.
“He actually had some awesome things to say. Just to keep calm and trust your process, trust your work,” Eskew said. “That was really cool to have him in here. That historic person that he is, coming in here and sharing his words with us.”
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As a former player himself, Bradley understands how difficult this game can be. His main message to the players was to continue to trust the process and things will work out.
“When the stuff’s not going good, don’t try to turn away from and start trying new stuff,” Kennedy Jones said, echoing what Bradley told them. “Just get your work in, it’ll come, and stay confident.”
As fate would have it, it seemed Bradley’s presence brought some good fortune for the Gamecocks. South Carolina played some of its best baseball all year and picked up a series win over Kentucky.
“We had our best weekend of the year I would say, so I’m going to give him all the credit,” Kingston said. “And I’m going to invite him to be an honorary assistant coach if he’s willing to take on that role.”
Bradley, sitting in on Kingston’s postgame press conference, jokingly said, “Coach, I still have two years of eligibility.”
“Well, let’s go then, come on. Come on, let’s go,” Kingston responded.
