ST. LOUIS -- Former Bradley Athletics three-sport coach and athletic director A.J. Robertson, who orchestrated Bradley's move into the Missouri Valley Conference 60 years ago, will be inducted into the MVC Hall of Fame in the Institutional Great category during the 11th annual ceremony March 7 at the 2008 State Farm MVC Tournament at the Scottrade Center.
Robertson will become the ninth overall Institutional Great selection and the seventh Bradley University representative to be enshrined in The Valley's Hall of Fame. The Institutional Great distinction honors a player, coach or athletic administrator who competed or worked at a current league school when the institution was not a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
Robertson is the winningest coach in Bradley Basketball history, boasting a 316-187 (.628) record on the hardwood from 1920 through 1948. He simultaneously served as the head coach for the Bradley football and baseball teams, compiling a 704-407-16 (.632) combined record in the three sports, while also serving as the school's athletic director. Among his basketball coaching highlights, Robertson directed the Braves to their first four postseason tournament appearances -- the 1930 National AAU Tournament, the first two National Invitation Tournaments in 1938 and 1939 and a third NIT appearance in 1947.
Robertson built Bradley into the dominant program of the now defunct Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, also known as the Little 19, and directed the Braves to a 40-game league winning streak that spanned seven seasons from 1936-37 into the 1942-43 campaign. He also coached the Bradley Basketball team in four different home arenas, but passed away in 1948, a year before the University opened A.J. Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. Robertson Fieldhouse, which is scheduled to be replaced by a new performance arena this spring, served as the home for Bradley men's basketball from 1949 through 1982 and has been the only home arena the women's basketball and volleyball teams have ever known.
After Bradley was bypassed for a spot in both the 1948 NCAA Tournament and NIT despite a final 28-3 record, Robertson worked to land the independent Braves in the Missouri Valley Conference. He then hired Forddy Anderson to take over the men's basketball coaching duties, and after a third-place finish in The Valley in 1949 with a 25-6 regular-season record, Anderson led Bradley to a fourth-place finish in the 1949 NIT.
Robertson is one of seven individuals who will be honored during the 2008 MVC Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. Former Creighton men's basketball star Bob Harstad, Drake track and field legend Kevin Little and late Cincinnati men's basketball head coach Ed Jucker will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, while former Evansville head coach and athletic director Jim Byers and former Illinois State women's basketball coach Jill Hutchinson will be honored for Lifetime Achievement. In addition, retiring Missouri State sports information director Mark Stillwell will receive the Paul Morrison Award.
Hersey Hawkins (1997), Chet Walker (1998), Paul Unruh (2004), Chuck Orsborn (2005) and Mitchell Anderson (2006) are the other Bradley representatives previously inducted into the MVC Hall of Fame, while longtime game operations manager Glen McCullough received the 1999 Paul Morrison Award.
