GREG BRADSHAW

Inducted July 23, 2006, City of Inverness Highland Games - Masters World Championships

(l. to r.) Greg with Angus Billy Scruggs at presentation, Greg after presentation, and
passing out hardware to Nancy Baker while judging at Inverness MWC.

by Bill Scruggs and Landon Bradshaw

Greg Bradshaw, to my knowledge, was never a competitor in the master’s division of Scottish heavy athletics. But his contribution to the overall sport and the master’s sport in particular merits significant accolades from the Scottish masters’ community. Greg came to Scottish athletics from a rich family background in the games. His father Hank began tossing cabers at a young age and initiated what would become the Rocky Mountain Highland Games in Golden and then Highlands Ranch when he organized athletics for the St. Andrews Society picnic in Denver in 1962. Greg won the caber competition at the games in 1963 and 1965 while still in high school. When his father took ill in 1977, Greg took over as athletic director for the games in Golden.

In 1979 he built the first of many trailers that could be considered a "self-contained" athletics event. He offered his services and the trailer to any games that would pay his expenses. One of the first to take him up on this was the Kansas City Highland Games. In 1978 he participated in an exhibition for Estes Park , tossing the caber with both sons and his younger brother Jerry at the city fairgrounds. The Longs Peak Highland Games then officially started in 1980.

Greg was instrumental in the founding of the Rocky Mountain Scottish Athletes organization. For many years he carried the RMSA on his back and, most likely, with his own funds when the organization languished because of apathy in the athletic community. Then, it was Greg who orchestrated the ‘reorganization’ of the RMSA and brought it back from oblivion to what it is today.

It was as chief of the RMSA that Greg made his mark on the master’s class. Greg initiated the ‘decathlon’ scoring system in the RMSA in the early 1980s. This allowed for computer scoring as well as bringing some equity among the competitors through the different events. This scoring system also allowed for the introduction of handicapping for masters athletes. In the beginning there weren’t many masters competitors in the central region of the US . Certainly, there were not enough to split into different age classes. When the old and very old were lumped with the new masters, the disparity was often quite discouraging for the older throwers. Many of them dropped out. The handicapping system allowed for parity among the diverse ages of the athletes, giving everyone a chance to medal and place. This allowed smaller numbers of masters athletes to be fairly lumped into a single class. This, in turn, allowed more games to include a master’s class in their athletic program. The net result was more games with masters’ classes which cultivated a general increase in the overall number of athletes competing at the master’s age level. This system is still in use today at many games throughout the Midwest and mountain regions.

Never satisfied to let things remain status quo, Greg used his trailer and the RMSA to encourage more Scottish festivals to include athletics as a part of their program. Traveling extensively throughout Colorado , Kansas , Oklahoma and other states to most of those games to judge, score and, sometimes, act as athletic director, Greg was a major influence that kept many athletes in the game as they got older and recruited many older athletes into the game. Greg also started the first class for lightweight competitors.

Greg was singularly responsible for the codification of the RMSA rules for competition and the development of the RMSA judges program. This program is the only such one in the U.S. and Canada which requires judges to take, not just a test, but also a training course of both classroom and field work before certification. This has led to high quality, consistent judging through the region, a source of encouragement for athletes to stay with the game.

The community of Scottish athletes and especially the masters athletes owe a Greg a great debt of gratitude for his contribution to their sport.