Luther Bradley's NFL draft day prayer was answered after Detroit Lions picked him in 1978

At the conclusion of the 1977 college football season, the American Football Coaches Association, United Press International and the Walter Camp Football Foundation were in agreement that Notre Dame defensive back Luther Bradley was among the finest players in the country, as all three organizations recognized him as a first-team All-American.

And as the 1978 NFL Draft approached, Bradley also was on the radar of the Pittsburgh Steelers — the same Steelers franchise that dominated the 1970s with teams that won four Super Bowl titles.

“I was working in New York with Merrill Lynch and the Pittsburgh Steelers called me a week before the draft,” remembered Bradley, who, during the spring of 1978, had already begun to put his finance degree from Notre Dame to work. “They said: ‘We want to get you and we want you to play on the other side of Mel Blount, and we think we’re going to have the best corners ever!’ The person said they weren’t sure if I would still be around when Pittsburgh drafted, but he said they would try to move up in the draft if they could, so I was very excited about that.”

As it turned out, roughly 630 miles from where Bradley was working at Merrill Lynch, the Detroit Lions’ talent evaluators were “excited” about Bradley’s pro football potential as well. And, unlike the Steelers, who held the 22nd pick in the first round, the Lions were in a better position to select Bradley, which the team did with the 11th overall pick on May 2, 1978.

Forty-five years later, Bradley expresses no remorse about not going to Pittsburgh, which continued its winning ways by notching another Super Bowl victory the season Bradley broke into the league with the Lions.

“When I got to the Lions, it was Monte Clark’s first year (as head coach and director of Football Operations) and I was his first draft pick, so we were rebuilding,” said Bradley, who had played on two national championship teams at Notre Dame. “Me and Bubba Baker were the team’s No. 1 and No. 2 draft picks, and while we had a lot of holes that we needed to fill, I just felt like we were building something. I thought we were an up-and-coming team.”

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During the four seasons Bradley played for the Lions — 1978 through 1981 — the Lions won 26 games and lost 38. Still, there was joy in Bradley’s voice Monday when he described the “crest” of his career with the Lions in five words: “Another One Bites The Dust.” That statement is all that is needed to transport longtime Lions fans back to the 1980 season when the team’s hot start prompted Bradley’s partner in the defensive secondary, the late Jimmy “Spiderman” Allen, to record a rap version of Queen’s hit song blended with Allen’s creative lyrics related to the team, which took metro Detroit by storm for a few weeks. Continuing to go down memory lane, Bradley explained how the Lions’ 1980 season “crumbled,” as a 4-0 start ended with a 5-7 finish that kept the team out of the playoffs. The following year, the Lions took an undefeated home record into the season finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 80,444 raucous fans at the old Pontiac Silverdome ready to cheer the team on to another home victory, which would have secured a postseason berth. That victory would not come, as the Bucs defeated the Lions, 20-17.

However, despite the stinging defeats Bradley experienced on the field during his NFL career, he makes it crystal clear that he has always been proud to be a part of the Lions’ history, largely due to his deep connection to the city of Detroit.

“We are ingrained forever in Detroit,” said the now-67-year-old Bradley, who is the proud husband to Sylvia (Sli) Shelby Bradley and an adoring dad to four adult children — Rashida, Lutasha, Samuel and Daniel — who all graduated from Detroit’s esteemed Renaissance High School. “Absolutely I have had a good life in Detroit, that’s hitting it right on the head. And I have been blessed off the charts. The Lord has given me everything I have ever wanted — a beautiful wife, beautiful children and good people and friends all around me.”

Bradley revealed that his draft day prayer 45 years ago was answered not that long after he was selected by the Lions. And that answered prayer paved the way to the “beautiful” Detroit life that he still cherishes today.

“With the draft, you never know who will take you and where you may wind up. But when I prayed, I said: ‘Lord, take me to a place where I can meet my wife,’ ” said Bradley, whose draft day call from the Lions in 1978 was captured by media stationed at the Merrill Lynch offices in New York where Bradley continued to work as a stockbroker before reporting to training camp. “I didn’t know where she was going to come from, but I wound up meeting my wife about three or four months after I got here.”

Sli and Luther Bradley laugh now about Luther first receiving Sli’s phone number without her permission from a mutual friend while Luther was purchasing something for his apartment that many people know nothing about today — stereo equipment. But the passionate way Luther has embraced being a part of the larger Detroit team for decades, after the couple married and settled into a Detroit home within the Sherwood Forest neighborhood in 1979, is a source of pride for the couple and others who have gotten to know him through the years, including at New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church, where he is a trustee; and Youth For Christ, where his commitment to improving the lives of young people is valued as a Detroit and national board member.

“Luther is the same now as when he was playing, because he has always wanted to be something more than a jock,” explained Sli Bradley, who confessed to knowing nothing about football until reading a book during her husband’s stint in the United States Football League after his Lions days. “He never came to me with: ‘I’m a Lion. Are you impressed with that?’ As a matter of fact, before we were married, I was living downtown (in the Lafayette Towers) and Luther would come down from Pontiac to visit and I would say: ‘So, what day are you guys playing football?’ And he would say: ‘Still on Sunday.’ I knew nothing about the game and I didn’t know the difference between a bench warmer and a starter, but that didn’t matter to Luther. He has always had the same personality and spirit to connect with all people wherever he goes. Luther Bradley meets no strangers.”

The spirit that Sli Bradley spoke of was on display Tuesday morning at 600 E. Lafayette, the home of Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan, which has had a relationship with Luther Bradley since 1989 when he began work as a marketing representative. Since 2018, Blue Cross Blue Shield has utilized Luther Bradley’s expertise as a consultant and during his brief visit Tuesday, he demonstrated some of his greatest gifts.

“Luther is all about relationships,” said Gary Gavin, a vice president for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan who found a way to squeeze in a few words about his friend and colleague of 20 years between a flurry of hugs and loud laughter that they exchanged.

If Gavin and any other friends of Luther Bradley have noticed that he has been talking about the Lions more than usual the past couple of years — and that the Lions talk has picked up even more during this draft season — it is for a good reason: His connection to the team now includes being the uncle of Lions’ Executive Vice President and General Manager Brad Holmes, a rising star in football executive circles.

On Monday afternoon, in anticipation of his visit to Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan, which just happens to be walking distance from the Lions’ home of Ford Field, Luther Bradley definitely was in the mood to discuss the draft — and anything else related to the Lions, including what he believes his nephew does best.

“I believe that my nephew is the best drafting GM in the league,” said Luther Bradley, affectionately known as “Ruff” by family members and “Uncle Ruff” in the case of Holmes. “If you look at (Malcolm) Rodriguez and (Amon-Ra) St. Brown; these guys were not high draft picks, but they’re good players and it shows that he (Holmes) has learned to appreciate who these people are without them being celebrities or stars in college. And when he does draft a college star, like Aidan Hutchinson last year, we’ve seen the performance on the field afterwards. So the guys he has selected have really done the job and that’s why I’m so excited about the team we have now.”

And while Luther Bradley has no doubt that Holmes will continue to bring in players that will help the Lions move forward, the uncle of the general manager offered up some advice that he believes can help all of the new arrivals make the most of their NFL careers.

“They’re going to find out that everyone in this league is really, really good at every position — they’re the best of the best. So you have to be dedicated to the profession and put in the time and work,” said Luther Bradley, who also remains closely tied to the Lions franchise as one of the captains in a peer program that provides a platform for former Lions players to engage in wellness checks addressing health and personal needs with other former Lions from the same era. “And the other thing is you have to prepare yourself for life after sports, so you won’t be left in the cold, and that starts now.

“Detroit gave me an opportunity to grow as a person and to know that I can make a difference in the community. It’s a nurturing environment, and the players coming in should not be afraid to live here and be engaged.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/.

Luther Bradley: Proud to represent the Honolulu Blue and Silver

Since being drafted by the Detroit Lions in the first round of the 1978 draft with the 11th overall selection, Luther Bradley has become a fan of the franchise for life. When asked to provide a short list of his all-time favorite Lions of any era, he served up this dozen:

• Al "Bubba" Baker: The defensive end out of Colorado State was the Lions’ second-round pick in the 1978 draft and he wasted no time in making his mark, as he was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.

• Lem Barney: Like Bradley, Barney roamed the defensive secondary for the Lions and the Pro Football Hall of Famer is recognized as one of the very best to ever play cornerback in the NFL.

• Lomas Brown: One of the most durable players in NFL history, who played 11 of his 18 seasons with the Lions. The seven-time Pro Bowler can be heard during the season as the color analyst for Lions radio broadcasts.

• Doug English: A teammate of Bradley; a four-time Pro Bowler; and an inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame

• Mel Farr: A standout running back who later became even more well-known as a businessman and car dealer.

• William Gay: Like Bradley, Gay was drafted in 1978, but by the Denver Broncos. He found a home with the Lions where he played 10 of his 11 NFL seasons, while blossoming into a leader of the “Silver Rush” defensive line.

• Eric Hipple: Bradley gives his former teammate high marks for his play on the field as a quarterback and for the extended efforts Hipple has made to assist retired players in need of help.

• Dick “Night Train” Lane: A Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback like Barney, who set the NFL’s single season interception record (14 interceptions, in just 12 games during the 1952 season) before coming to Detroit.

• Eddie Murray: A teammate of Bradley; one of the best placekickers of his era, and a Michigan Sports Hall of Fame inductee.

• Barry Sanders: Like Bradley’s teammate Billy Sims, this spectacular running back who also wore No. 20 brought weekly excitement to Lions fans, but he carried out his excellence for a longer period en route to being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

• Billy Sims: He wore No. 20 like Barney and Sanders, and he wore it well, including during his exciting 1980 rookie season, when Sims was the spark behind the team’s rise to 9-7 after a 2-14 campaign the previous year.

• Charlie Weaver: A linebacker who played with Bradley and was a mainstay for the Lions’ defense during his 10 years with the team, which began in 1971.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Detroit Lion Luther Bradley has deep connection to city