Man brought Colt World Series to area

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Loeb Stadium has been packed each evening this week, as kids and families from around the world call Lafayette home for six days of competitive baseball.

It's one week for some, but a lifetime of work for one man. At 90 years old, Harry Bradway is considered by many to be the father of baseball and the Colt World Series in Lafayette.

In 1969 Harry Bradway's determination brought the Colt World Series to Lafayette, and where it has stayed every year but one.

Loeb Stadium hasn't changed much since it was built in the 1940s. But it was in 1968, on a trip through Shawnee, Oklahoma that Harry Bradway saw the facility where the Colt World Series was being played.

He knew Lafayette had a better venue in Loeb Stadium.

"Well, I made a trip to Texas, came back through Shawnee, and the facilities they had wasn't any where near as nice as what we had, so I said why don't we just have it in Lafayette, so I made the application and we got it here and we kept it here ever since," said Bradway.

Bradway didn't play baseball until he graduated from high school. He went on to play and manage teams, and helped form a Colt League in Lafayette in 1958 for kids ages 15 and 16.

"I was from a small town, and you couldn't play baseball by yourself, so I had to wait until I could get in an area where there were a lot of people," said Bradway.

Bradway has spent most of his baseball years in Loeb Stadium. He arrives at the park in the afternoon when games begin, and doesn't leave until the night game is over. He now lives at Tippecanoe Villa in West Lafayette, but still makes it to Loeb Stadium during the World Series.

"It makes me feel pretty proud, I'll tell you that, and it kind of helps Lafayette too, puts Lafayette on the map. People would never ever have come to Lafayette had it not been for that," said Bradway.

Bradway watches the eight teams compete for the title of Colt World Series Champs. He says he hopes local kids realize what an honor it is to play in the series, and to not take the tournament they grew up with for granted.

Harry Bradway graduated from high school in 1937.

He worked in newspaper, radio and television until he retired from broadcasting Purdue and high school athletic events in 1982.