Hanover
Trailing, 7-6, in the waning moments of the inaugural Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl in 1954, New Hampshire quarterback Dave Bradley put everything into a throw toward streaking receiver Barry Reister, who’d successfully gotten behind the defense on an out pattern.
Bradley was pummeled by Vermont defenders as he released the ball, but when he got up, he was a hero.
“We were 30-35 yards (from the end zone),” Bradley, still a part-time attorney at age 81, recalled on Thursday in an interview at his Hanover office. “I saw (Reister) get open and threw the ball as hard as I could. I got flattened by two or three linemen, so I didn’t see him catch it. I just heard the crowd roar, and I was pretty sure it was the New Hampshire side.”
Reister scored the Granite State’s second touchdown on the play, allowing New Hampshire to win the first Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, 12-7, at Nashua’s Holman Stadium.
Sixty-three years later, after watching the game many times as a fan over the years, Bradley will be part of its festivities once more.
Bradley, who was invited to address players and coaches today during a banquet at the Castleton University pavilion, also will be the grand marshal for Saturday’s parade down Main Street.
An honorary guest during the game, Bradley will be recognized during a halftime ceremony.
“We thought it would be pretty novel, pretty neat, to have the guy who threw the winning touchdown in the first game here with us this year,” Shrine Game general chairman Kristi Morris said. “It’s a way to honor the history of the game.”
Bradley was nominated by New Hampshire athletic director Gary Mayo, a Lebanon resident and former Lebanon High assistant coach. The two have known each other for 35 years. Mayo, the president of a West Lebanon-based insurance agency, turns frequently to Bradley for business advice.
“He’s been a mentor of mine since I first came to the area,” said Mayo, New Hampshire’s AD for the sixth straight year after coaching its offensive line in 2011. “A lot of times, the grand marshal is someone who is either a Shriner or has contributed a lot to the Shriners. That’s not Dave, but anyone who knows him knows he’s incredibly involved with every major (charitable) institution in the Upper Valley and has been for years. Aside from that, he clearly has a very significant historic connection to the game. I’m sure him being there will be an inspiration for both teams.”
A native of West Swanzey, N.H., Bradley played high school football at Keene High, where he began as a fullback in its traditional T-formation under coach Gus Hanley.
As a senior, Bradley switched to starting quarterback and helped lead Keene to a winning season, including an upset victory over Manchester Central in what Bradley recalled as his school’s first-ever win over its rival.
A few months later, Bradley learned that something called the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl had been formed to pit senior all-stars from Vermont and New Hampshire against each other to benefit children’s hospitals.
He also learned that Hanley would be coaching New Hampshire (Hanover High’s Forrest Branch was an assistant), and that he’d been chosen as one of two Granite State quarterbacks. The other was Laconia High’s Ron Snow.
Having been accepted to Dartmouth College, Bradley eschewed the school’s traditional freshman trip in order to attend the game’s two-week training camp.
“(Players) didn’t really know what to think of the game at first; we just knew it sounded like a great opportunity,” Bradley said. “The impact of what we were a part of really came during the trip to the Shriners’ Hospital in Springfield (Mass.), where we saw all kinds of kids in casts and slings. That’s when it really hit home and we knew, ‘Hey, this is for a really great cause.’ ”
After a scoreless first quarter, New Hampshire scored the game’s first points on a touchdown by Rochester High’s Marcel Huppe. With no reliable kicker for extra points, New Hampshire tried for a conversion rush — then worth only one point — and was stuffed to keep it 6-0.
Vermont scored in the third quarter and converted the point after on a run to take a 7-6 lead.
The Green Mountain State finished with a 311-203 advantage in total yards but lost three fumbles. Bradley couldn’t recall if one of the turnovers set up the game-winning drive.
“Everything happened quick,” Bradley said. “All I remember clearly is that it was third down (on the winning touchdown play), so we had to throw. I don’t think I could have thrown it any harder.”
Bradley went on to play four years at Dartmouth, quarterbacking it to a record of 7-1-1 as a senior in 1957 and earning second-team All-New England honors, he said.
After a three-year stint in the U.S. Navy, Bradley attended Harvard Law School and has practiced in Hanover since 1965. He also served in the New Hampshire state Legislature, including one term in the House of Representatives and three in the Senate.
Bradley campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 1980, losing to fellow attorney and Republican Warren Rudman.
An avid road cyclist, Bradley celebrated his 30th year riding The Prouty this summer and has raised more than $600,000 for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center of over the span, he said.
“I did 100 miles for the first 28 years, and 50 for the last two,” Bradley said.
While he couldn’t have known how much of a mainstay the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl would become — more than 4,000 players have suited up for the event, helping to raise more than $4.5 million for the hospitals — Bradley did have a sense he was part of something special back in 1954.
“It was a big deal then, just like it is now,” Bradley said. “It was a big deal to play in it. It’s pretty humbling to be asked to be grand marshal.”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com 603-727-3225.