BRADFORD – Bradford will be hold its 24th Athletic Hall of Fame night on Saturday.
The induction ceremony will take place between the junior varsity and varsity boys basketball games versus Parkway. The junior varsity game will start at 6 p.m.
The 2018 Bradford Athletic Hall of Fame class inductees are Gerald “Butch” Hart and Andy Mead.
Hart is a 1961 graduate of Bradford High School. During his athletic career at Bradford High School, he earned 13 letters in football, basketball, baseball and track. He was all-league his senior year in football.
After high school he started his career at Fram in Greenville before moving on to Tates in Gettysburg. He retired from General Motors after working 37 years for the company. During that time he graduated from the Electronic Computer Programming Institute.
Hart has served the Bradford community valiantly for many years. He has been the president and vice president of the Bradford pee wee football, member of the athletic boosters, little league coach for 17 years, high school baseball coach for three years and president of the Jaycees, which is now the Bradford Community Club, in which he is still very active. In addition, he has served 20 years on the Pumpkin Show Committee, having been on the board of directors, been in charge of the produce department and various other jobs. In 2015 he served as the grand marshal of the Pumpkin Show.
He is married to Lynne Weider for 54 years, loves traveling, gardening and golf all while starting a conservation reserve. He has three sons – Jim who helps coach football; Mike; and Eric, fellow hall of fame member who helps coach softball. Hart and his wife have nine grandchildren, three step grandchildren, seven great grandchildren and one due in March.
Mead is a 1996 graduate of Bradford High School. During his athletic career at Bradford High School, he earned eight letters in baseball and football. In baseball he was three times first team all-Cross County Conference, CCC player of the year in 1996, member of two CCC championship teams and a member of two district runner-up teams. He led the team in batting with a .444, stolen bases with 23 and fielding with a .989 percentage. In addition he had 21 RBIs and pitched a 5-1 season with 2.63 ERA. In football he had 157 tackles, 154 assists, six interceptions, caused eight fumbles and recovered five fumbles. He also had 92 carries with 392 yards rushing while passing had completed 50 for 722 yards and four touchdowns. He received 39 passes with three touchdowns.
Most impressively he was a three-time state placer in powerlifting, placing eighth, third and second. He was able to squat 460 pounds, bench 315 pounds and dead lift 500 pounds.
Following graduation, Mead attended the University of Cincinnati on a Division I scholarship in baseball. After college he started working heavy highway out of the Construction Laborers Union 534.
Mead started the select youth baseball team five years ago, and it is now three teams strong. This will be his first year as head baseball coach at Bradford High School. In addition, he has two children attending Bradford, Cassi and Keaton.
