In Memoriam: AFSCME 2477's James Bradford

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

In Memoriam: AFSCME 2477's James Bradford(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Jim Bradford, who died Sept. 13 at 84, spent much of his life in quiet obscurity at the Library of Congress as an assistant bookbinder and a researcher. But he was a most unusual library employee — a 6-foot, 287-pound weightlifter and two-time Olympian. In the heavyweight category, Mr. Bradford (right) twice took home a silver medal, at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki and the 1960 Games in Rome. An African American, largely unfeted in Washington in the 1950s, Bradford had to take unpaid leave from the Library of Congress to compete on the world stage. “Nah, they just ignored it,” he told Washington Post journalist David Maraniss, author of the book “Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World.” “I come back to my job and that is it. That was par for the course then.” About eight years ago, he retired from the Library of Congress, where he was a past president of AFSCME Local 2477. 
- adapted from The Washington Post; photo courtesy of The Post

 

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