Wesley Walker Bradshaw was an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player and coach. He was an All-Southwest Conference (SWC) back at Baylor University

Baylor University

Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...

 and was the first Southwest Conference football player to score 100 points in a single season with 119 points scored during the 1922 college football season.

He earned the nickname of "Rabbit" for his running style on the field. "On the football field,he was one of the hardest guys to get hold of I ever saw. He wasn't great as a fast runner, but he was very shifty and had a great change of pace. He was very hard to catch," said Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...

 player James Stewart.

Bradshaw excelled in other sports at Baylor as well. He was a letterman in basketball, track, and baseball.

As a professional athlete, Bradshaw played for the Rock Island Independents

Rock Island Independents

The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team based in Rock Island, Illinois. One of the first professional football teams, they were founded in 1907 as an independent club. They later played in what is now the National Football League from 1920 to 1925. They joined the...

 (1924) in the position of half right. Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe

Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...

 was among his teammates. He also played for the Buffalo Rangers (1926) in the NFL.

After his professional career, Bradshaw became a Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 high school football

High school football

High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

 coach at Athens High School

Athens Independent School District

Athens Independent School District is a public school district based in Athens, Texas .The district serves central Henderson County and small portions of southern Van Zandt and northern Anderson counties....

. He was appointed to the post June 4, 1925. He was also charged with coaching the basketball team. Bradshaw was the third coach at the school in as many years, and local boosters were reportedly concerned about his salary. Local businesses footed the bill.

In January 1927, Bradshaw was injured in a traffic accident. A motor bus, carrying Baylor students to a basketball game in Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, collided with a fast International-Great Northern Railroad

International-Great Northern Railroad

The International – Great Northern Railroad was a railroad that operated in the U.S. state of Texas. It was created on September 30, 1873, when International Railroad and Houston and Great Northern Railroad merged....

 train, killing 10 students and injuring five. Bradshaw was accompanying the party as a guest of the Baylor coach.

Bradshaw later coached at Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth and at Ouachita Baptist University

Ouachita Baptist University

Ouachita Baptist University is a private, liberal arts, undergraduate institution located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, which is about 65 miles southwest of Little Rock. The university's name is taken from the Ouachita River, which forms the eastern campus boundary. It is affiliated with the Arkansas...

 in Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

in the 1940s.

He was inducted into the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in 1961. He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1966.