Lynn Bradford is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who played four seasons in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL) with the

Detroit Drive The Massachusetts Marauders were a professional arena football team that was based in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were a member of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1994. The team was established in Detroit in 1988, as the Detroit ...

and

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas, United States. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two lan ...

Early life

Bradford played

for the Prairie View A&M Panthers of

. He rushed for just under 2,000 yards during his college career.

Professional career

Bradford played in all four games for the

of the

(AFL) in 1989, recording 19 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns, two receptions for 16 yards and one touchdown, 12 solo tackles, four assisted tackles, 0.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and two pass breakups. He was a fullback/

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

during his time in the AFL as the league played under

ironman rules The one-platoon system, also known as "iron man football", is a platoon system, rule-driven substitution pattern in American football whereby the same players were expected to stay on the field for the entire game, playing both offense and defense ...

. The Drive finished the season with a 3–1 record and advanced to

ArenaBowl III Arena Bowl '89 (or Arena Bowl III) was the Arena Football League's third Arena Bowl. The game featured the #2 Pittsburgh Gladiators against the #1 Detroit Drive. Both teams finished their seasons at 3-1, yet the Drive greatly led in points agai ...

, where they beat the

Pittsburgh Gladiators The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

by a score of 39–26. Bradford was named first-team

All-Arena An All-Arena Team, an all-star team consisting of the best players of their position was selected every season in the Arena Football League (AFL). Teams * 1987 All-Arena Team, 1987 * 1988 All-Arena Team, 1988 * 1989 All-Arena Team, 1989 * 1990 Al ...

for his performance during the 1989 season. He appeared in six games in 1990, totaling 32 rushes for 145 yards and four touchdowns, one catch for seven yards, six solo tackles, eight assisted tackles, one forced fumble, one pass breakup, and one blocked kick. The Drive went 6–2 and advanced to the

ArenaBowl The ArenaBowl was the championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team w ...

for the second consecutive season, this time beating the

Dallas Texans Dallas Texans may refer to: American football *Dallas Texans (NFL), 1952 team in the National Football League *Dallas Texans (AFL), 1960–1962 team that is now the Kansas City Chiefs *Dallas Texans (arena football) The Dallas Texans were an ...

ArenaBowl IV Arena Bowl '90 (or Arena Bowl IV) was the Arena Football League's fourth Arena Bowl. The game featured the #2 Dallas Texans against the #1 Detroit Drive. Both teams finished their seasons at 6-2, yet the Drive led in points for (326-299) and poin ...

by a margin of 51–27. In February 1991, Bradford was selected by the New York/New Jersey Knights of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

(WLAF) in the 1991 WLAF draft as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

. On March 11, 1991, it was reported that he had been waived. Bradford played in eight games for the

of the AFL in 1991, accumulating 61 rushing attempts for 261 yards and seven touchdowns, four receptions for 23 yards, 32 solo tackles, six assisted tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble, one pass breakup, and one blocked kick. Tampa Bay finished the year with a 8–2 record and advanced to

ArenaBowl V ArenaBowl '91 (or ArenaBowl V) was the Arena Football League's fifth ArenaBowl. The game featured the #2 Tampa Bay Storm (8-2) against the #1 Detroit Drive (9-1). The Storm were in their first season in Tampa, Florida since moving from Pittsburgh ...

, where they beat Bradford's former team, the Detroit Drive by a score of 48–42. This was Bradford's third straight ArenaBowl victory. He earned first-team All-Arena recognition for the 1991 season. On June 6, 1992, he suffered a career-ending neck injury during the second game of the season, rupturing two discs in his neck due to a collision with a

New Orleans Night The New Orleans Night were an Arena Football League (AFL) team that competed in the 1991 and 1992 AFL seasons and were based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The team was officially announced at a press conference on March 18, 1991. On April 9, the na ...

receiver. He felt a burning sensation after the tackle and played the remainder of the game, but could not move his neck after the contest.

Personal life

Bradford lived in Houston during the AFL offseasons. He graduated from the

University of Texas Medical Branch The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a Public university, public Academic health science centre, academic health science center in Galveston, Texas, United States. It is part of the University of Texas System. UTMB includes the olde ...

with a degree in physical therapy, and worked as a licensed physical therapist during the AFL offseasons. He was the Storm's fullbacks/linebackers coach from 1993 to 1994, and won his fourth ArenaBowl in 1993. Bradford later served as an assistant football coach at several high schools in Florida.

References

External links

Stats Crew profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Lynn Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American football fullbacks American football linebackers Prairie View A&M Panthers football players Detroit Drive players New York/New Jersey Knights players Tampa Bay Storm players 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen University of Texas Medical Branch alumni Tampa Bay Storm coaches High school football coaches in Florida