Sportscaster Bob Bradley, 86

Longtime Channel 3 sportscaster Bob Bradley, 86, died Monday at Mease Dunedin Hospital in Dunedin, Fla., of a stroke.

Mr. Bradley, often described by reporters as a "classy commentator," began working in television in Cleveland in the late 1940s. There he created Cactus Jim, a grizzled old cowboy who introduced Western movies on a children's show. From 1958 to 1963, he reprised the character with a new name, Buckskin Bill, in Philadelphia at WRCV-TV. He was also an announcer for the station, which became KYW and is now known as CBS3.

From 1963 until his retirement in 1987, Mr. Bradley was a sports reporter at the station, where he was second banana to a succession of sports anchors. "I don't think of myself as the number-one guy," he told a reporter in 1982. "I'm really viewer-oriented rather than management-oriented."

Though he was often the weekend sports anchor, he preferred reporting. On Saturdays for years, he covered as many as three local college football games. "It was exciting because you and your cameraman did everything," he told a reporter in 1986.

Mr. Bradley worked hard to be objective, his daughter Rebecca Haber said, but sometimes his fondness for local teams, especially the Phillies, showed. While at Channel 3, he hosted the 10th Inning, a post-Phillies game show on WPHL-TV, Channel 17. After moving to Clearwater, Fla., in 1990, he taped spring-training interviews with ballplayers for a satellite uplink service.

In 1986, he was honored by the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia as its "Person of the Year" and was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2003.

Mr. Bradley, born Robert Bouwsma in Muskegon, Mich., served in the Army in Panama during World War II. After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and later hosted a television program in Cleveland called Invest in America. He earned a master's degree in communications from the University of Michigan.

While working for a television station in Cleveland, he performed in productions at the Cleveland Playhouse and sang baritone in a church choir. He tried a career in acting and lived in New York with his wife and three small children for a year.

In 1956, he turned down an offer to appear in a play that was scheduled for pre-Broadway tryouts in Wilmington. "It was the best thing I never did," Mr. Bradley later said. The play closed after one night. A week later, Channel 3 called with a job offer.

For 10 years Mr. Bradley taught a popular broadcasting class at Temple University. He enjoyed mentoring young people, his daughter said, and often invited them to the television studio.

When he was growing up in Drexel Hill, David Murphy, a weatherman at 6ABC, was a neighbor of Mr. Bradley's. "During a party at my house, Bob and I had a conversation about college and he actually convinced me to go to Temple. It worked out pretty well. I met my wife there. I've always been grateful to him," he said.

Mr. Bradley also married his college sweetheart, Rosemary. In addition to his wife of 63 years and daughter, he is survived by a son, Robert; a daughter, Rosalind Burns; a sister; two brothers; and six grandchildren.

The funeral will be tomorrow at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Dunedin, Fla., where Mr. Bradley taught Bible classes.