Editing Don Bradman (section)

==After cricket==
[[File:Don Bradman's cricket bats at the State Library of South Australia, Adelaide, February 2023.jpg|thumb|right|Bradman's bats used in his historic performances, at the [[State Library of South Australia]]]]
After his return to Australia, Bradman played in his own [[Testimonial match]] at Melbourne, scoring his 117th and last century, and receiving £9,342 in proceeds (~$A606,489 in 2021 terms).<ref>Robinson (1981), p. 153.</ref> In the [[1949 New Year Honours]], he was appointed [[Knight Bachelor]]<ref>United Kingdom :{{London Gazette |issue=38493 |date=31 December 1948 |page=2 |supp=y }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1083761 |title=It's an Honour: Knight Bachelor |publisher=Itsanhonour.gov.au |date=1 January 1949 |access-date=21 August 2010 |archive-date=22 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222042225/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1083761 |url-status=live }}</ref> for his services to the game, becoming the only Australian cricketer ever to be knighted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bradman.com.au/library_library_detail.aspx?view=9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220055915/http://www.bradman.com.au/library_library_detail.aspx?view=9 |archive-date=20 February 2011 |title=Bradman Foundation Australia |publisher=Bradman.com.au |access-date=21 August 2010}}</ref> He commented that he "would have preferred to remain just Mister".<ref name=TelOb/> The following year he published a memoir, ''Farewell to Cricket''.<ref>Bradman (1950)</ref> Bradman accepted offers from the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' to travel with, and write about, the 1953 and 1956 Australian teams in England. ''[[The Art of Cricket]]'', his final book published in 1958, is an instructional manual.<ref name=Swanton/>

Bradman retired from his stockbroking business in June 1954, depending on the "comfortable" income earned as a board member of 16 publicly listed companies.<ref>Perry (1995), p. 569.</ref> His highest profile affiliation was with [[Argo Investments Limited]], where he was chairman for a number of years. Charles Williams commented that, "[b]usiness was excluded on medical grounds, [so] the only sensible alternative was a career in the administration of the game which he loved and to which he had given most of his active life".<ref>Williams (1996), p. 251.</ref>

Bradman was honoured at a number of cricket grounds, notably when his portrait was hung in the [[Long Room]] at [[Lord's Cricket Ground|Lord's]]; until [[Shane Warne]]'s portrait was added in 2005, Bradman was one of just three Australians to be honoured in this way.<ref>The following sources are, respectively, a Miller obituary from 2004, which lists Trumper and Bradman and a further piece from 2005, when Warne's portrait was added. [[Mike Atherton]], the author of the second piece, curiously overlooks Trumper's portrait; other articles of the same period do similarly.</ref><ref name="Selvey">{{Cite news
 | first = Mike
 | last = Selvey
 | author-link = Mike Selvey
 | title = Obituary: Keith Miller
 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/oct/12/guardianobituaries.cricket
 | work = [[The Guardian]]
 | date = 12 October 2004
| access-date = 14 January 2008
| location = London
 | archive-date = 28 August 2013
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130828081930/http://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/oct/12/guardianobituaries.cricket
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/2360948/Warne-still-the-incomparable-master-of-spin-bowler%27s-craft.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121223131518/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/2360948/Warne-still-the-incomparable-master-of-spin-bowler%27s-craft.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 December 2012|title=Warne: still the incomparable master of spin bowler's craft|last=Atherton|first=Michael|work=The Telegraph|access-date=16 May 2008 | location=London | date=12 June 2005}}</ref> Bradman inaugurated a "Bradman Stand" at the [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] in January 1974;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scgt.nsw.gov.au/History.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210171438/http://www.scgt.nsw.gov.au/History.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 December 2007 |title=SCGT&nbsp;– History |work=Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust |access-date=16 May 2008 }}</ref> the [[Adelaide Oval]] also opened a Bradman Stand in 1990, which housed new media and corporate facilities.<ref name=gibbs>Gibbs (2001), p. 102.</ref> The Oval's Bradman Stand was demolished in 2012<ref name=sah>{{cite web | title=Victor Richardson Gates | website=SA History Hub | date=1 September 2014|first1= Jude |last1=Elton |first2= Bernard| last2= O'Neil| publisher= [[History Trust of South Australia]] | url=https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/things/victor-richardson-gates | access-date=3 August 2024}}</ref> as the stadium underwent an extensive re-development.<ref name=selvey>{{cite news|last=Selvey|first=Mike|title=Ashes: Adelaide Oval is breaking new ground so hold on to your hard hat|work=The Guardian|date=29 November 2013|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/nov/29/adelaide-oval-second-test-australia-england-ashes|access-date=29 April 2017|location=London|archive-date=8 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208122519/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/nov/29/adelaide-oval-second-test-australia-england-ashes|url-status=live}}</ref> Later in 1974, he attended a [[Lord's Taverners]] function in London where he experienced heart problems,<ref name="Williamsp271"/> which forced him to limit his public appearances to select occasions only. With his wife, Bradman returned to [[Bowral, New South Wales|Bowral]] in 1976, where the new cricket ground was named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cricketsa.com.au/Content.aspx?p=93 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20030817065910/http://www.cricketsa.com.au/Content.aspx?p=93 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 August 2003 |title=SACA&nbsp;– History |work=South Australian Cricket Association |access-date=16 May 2008 }}</ref> He gave the keynote speech at the historic [[Centenary Test]] at Melbourne in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bradman.org.au/html/s03_faq/faqItem.asp?id=501|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070831111025/http://www.bradman.org.au/html/s03_faq/faqItem.asp?id=501|archive-date=31 August 2007|title=Bradman Foundation|work=Bradman Museum|access-date=23 August 2008}}</ref>

On 16 June 1979, the Australian government awarded Bradman the nation's second-highest civilian honour at that time, Companion of the [[Order of Australia]] (AC), "in recognition of service to the sport of cricket and cricket administration".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/886305 |title=It's an Honour: AC |publisher=Itsanhonour.gov.au |date=11 June 1979 |access-date=21 August 2010 |archive-date=29 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129124601/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/886305 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1980, he resigned from the ACB, to lead a more secluded life.

===Administrative career===
{{See also|Controversies involving Don Bradman}}
In addition to acting as one of South Australia's delegates to the [[Cricket Australia|Board of Control]] from 1945 to 1980, Bradman was a committee member of the SACA between 1935 and 1986. It is estimated that he attended 1,713&nbsp;SACA meetings during this half century of service. Aside from two years in the early 1950s, he filled a selector's berth for the Test team between 1936 and 1971.<ref>Harte (1993), p. 658.</ref>

Cricket saw an increase in defensive play during the 1950s. As a selector, Bradman favoured attacking, positive cricketers who entertained the paying public. He formed an alliance with Australian captain [[Richie Benaud]], seeking more attractive play,<ref>Cashman (1996), p. 58.</ref> with some success.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/93285.html|work = Cricinfo|title = Background: The 1960–61 West Indies tour of Australia|access-date = 23 August 2008|archive-date = 12 October 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012213648/http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/93285.html|url-status = live}}</ref> He served two high-profile periods as chairman of the board of Control, in 1960–63 and 1969–72.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cricket.com.au/about-us/ca-history |work=Cricket Australia |title=Cricket Australia: History |access-date=15 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214151820/http://www.cricket.com.au/about-us/ca-history |archive-date=14 February 2014 }}</ref> During the first, he dealt with the growing prevalence of illegal bowling actions in the game, a problem that he adjudged "the most complex I have known in cricket, because it is not a matter of fact but of opinion".<ref name=Swanton/> The major controversy of his second stint was a proposed tour of Australia by South Africa in 1971–72. On Bradman's recommendation, the series was cancelled.<ref>Page (1983), pp. 350–355.</ref> Cricket journalist Michael Coward said of Bradman as an administrator:

{{blockquote|Bradman was more than a cricket player nonpareil. He was...an astute and progressive administrator; an expansive thinker, philosopher and writer on the game. Indeed, in some respects, he was as powerful, persuasive and influential a figure off the ground as he was on it.<ref>Eason (2004), p. 15.</ref>}}

In the late 1970s, Bradman played an important role during the [[World Series Cricket]] schism as a member of a special [[Cricket Australia|Australian Cricket Board]] committee formed to handle the crisis. He was criticised for not airing an opinion, but he dealt with World Series Cricket far more pragmatically than other administrators.<ref>Harte (1993), p. 587.</ref> Richie Benaud described Bradman as "a brilliant administrator and businessman", warning that he was not to be underestimated.<ref>Haigh (1993), p. 106.</ref> As Australian captain, [[Ian Chappell]] fought with Bradman over the issue of player remuneration in the early 1970s and has suggested that Bradman was parsimonious:<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Chappell|first1=Ian|last2=Mallett|first2=Ashley|title=Chappelli Speaks Out|url=https://archive.org/details/chappellispeakso00mall|url-access=limited|publisher=Allen & Unwin|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/chappellispeakso00mall/page/n159 150]|isbn=978-1-74175-036-2}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I...thought to myself, 'Ian, did you just ask Bradman to fill your wallet with money?' Bradman's harangue confirmed my suspicions that the players were going to have a hard time extracting more money from the ACB.}}

===Cancellation of South Africa tour===
Despite South Africa's [[apartheid]] regime excluding black players from participating in national sports, many countries including Australia retained [[Sporting boycott of South Africa during the apartheid era|sporting relations]] with the regime until the mid-1970s. In this vein, the [[South Africa national cricket team|South African national cricket team]] was [[South African cricket team in Australia in 1971–72 (proposed)|meant to tour Australia]] over the 1971–72 Australian summer. Public polls from the time suggested that, despite a group of very active protestors, around 75% of Australians wanted the tour to go ahead{{snd}}believing that Australia should not interfere with South Africa's domestic politics.<ref name="Fox Sports-2021"/>

Bradman, as Chair of the Australian Cricket Board, was initially sympathetic to this majority position of allowing the planned tour to proceed. He expressed the view that white South African cricketers, many of whom had voiced their opposition to Apartheid and "had tried harder than our [Australian] protestors to do something about it", should not be punished for the decisions of their national government.<ref name="The day apartheid was hit for six">{{Cite web |date=23 August 2008 |title=The day apartheid was hit for six |url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-day-apartheid-was-hit-for-six-20080823-gdss3b.html |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=18 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318074339/https://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-day-apartheid-was-hit-for-six-20080823-gdss3b.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, seeking to understand the situation better, Bradman travelled to South Africa in June 1971.<ref name="Fox Sports-2021">{{Cite web |date=25 February 2021 |title=The untold story of how Bradman became Mandela's 'ultimate hero' |url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/cricket-australia-news-how-sir-donald-bradman-became-nelson-mandelas-hero-anniversary-of-death/news-story/263371795784c5fdd3a417be5b6ae716 |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=Fox Sports |language=en |archive-date=18 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318074340/https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/cricket-australia-news-how-sir-donald-bradman-became-nelson-mandelas-hero-anniversary-of-death/news-story/263371795784c5fdd3a417be5b6ae716 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="The day apartheid was hit for six"/> While there, Bradman met with then South African Prime Minister [[John Vorster]]. Their exchange was documented as follows:<ref name="Fox Sports-2021"/>{{blockquote|
* Bradman: "why don't you choose blacks in the team? I want to know". 
* Vorster: "blacks understand rugby but they don't understand the intricacies of cricket. [They] can't handle it".
* Bradman: "have you heard of [[Garfield Sobers|Garry Sobers]]?"}}

Sobers, a [[West Indian]] cricketer, was regarded as perhaps the greatest cricketing [[all-rounder]] of all time, and was reportedly admired by Bradman{{snd}}who had helped get Sobers out to play in [[South Australia]] the previous decade.<ref name="Fox Sports-2021"/>

When Bradman returned to Australia later in the year, and in the absence of any intervention by the Australian Government to prevent the tour, he argued to the other members of the Australian Cricket Board that they should cancel the tour.<ref name="The day apartheid was hit for six"/><ref name="Fox Sports-2021" /><ref name="Perry">{{Cite web |last=Perry |first=Roland |date=23 August 2008 |title=The Don's finest declaration |url=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/the-dons-finest-declaration-20080823-ge7c73.html |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=The Age |language=en |archive-date=28 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428101759/https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/the-dons-finest-declaration-20080823-ge7c73.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On behalf of the Board, Bradman made a one-line statement to the press: "We will not play them [South Africa] until they choose a team on a non-racial basis.".<ref name="Fox Sports-2021" /><ref name="Perry"/>

At the time, many disapproved of Bradman's decision to cancel to the tour. Vorster unsurprisingly decried the decision, calling it one by "anarchists, communists and fellow travellers".<ref>Cablegram from the Australian Embassy, Pretoria, to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra, 15 September 1971, NAA916 11/8 Part 1</ref> Even Australian Prime Minister William McMahon expressed regret at the decision, saying it had been wanted by a "great many Australians".<ref>Cablegram from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra, to all ports, 9 September 1971, NAA916 11/8 Part 1</ref> Meanwhile, some Australian newspapers lamented that "a small violent group of trouble-makers has won the day" and that "Bradman had 'conced[ed] defeat without a ball being bowled".<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 1971 |title=Australian Cricket |pages=20 |work=Sydney Daily Telegraph}}</ref> The decision was, however, praised in other media, and was well received by anti-apartheid activists in South Africa.<ref name="Perry"/> Those who appreciated Bradman's decision included a then-imprisoned [[Nelson Mandela]]. After Bradman's death, Mandela prasied him on public television{{snd}}stating that "he was a hero, a true hero".<ref>{{Citation |title=Being Bradman – Part 1 |date=27 July 2015 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-27/being-bradman---part-one/6660594 |access-date=28 April 2023 |publisher=ABC News |language=en-AU |archive-date=27 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427121441/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-27/being-bradman---part-one/6660594 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although Bradman became unwell and died before the two could meet, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser gifted Mandela a signed bat from the cricketer, which read: "To Nelson Mandela{{snd}}in recognition of a great, unfinished innings".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fraser |first=Malcolm |date=5 December 2013 |title=Nelson Mandela: 'By far the greatest man' |url=https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/nelson-mandela-by-far-the-greatest-man-20131206-2yup4.html |access-date=28 April 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=28 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428101758/https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/nelson-mandela-by-far-the-greatest-man-20131206-2yup4.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Later years and death===
After his wife's death in 1997, Bradman suffered "a discernible and not unexpected wilting of spirit".<ref>Frith (2002), p. 429.</ref> The next year, on his 90th birthday, he hosted a meeting with his two favourite modern players, [[Shane Warne]] and [[Sachin Tendulkar]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/96323.html|title=Bradman never missed a Tendulkar innings in last five years|date=16 August 2001|work=Cricinfo|access-date=23 August 2008|archive-date=15 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615132908/http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/96323.html|url-status=live}}</ref> but he was not seen in his familiar place at the Adelaide Oval again.<ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.bradmantrail.com.au/story_3.php|title=Adelaide Oval|work=The Bradman Trail|access-date=19 May 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719191320/http://bradmantrail.com.au/story_3.php|archive-date=19 July 2008}}</ref>  In an oft-recited anecdote, Tendulkar was impressed with Bradman's sharpness and sense of humour at this historic meeting:<ref>{{Cite web |title=That's not bad for a 90-year-old man: When Don Bradman joked with Sachin Tendulkar about batting average |url=https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/cricket/article/thats-not-bad-for-a-90-year-old-man-when-don-bradman-joked-with-sachin-tendulkar-about-batting-average/804552 |access-date=24 March 2023 |website=www.timesnownews.com |date=27 August 2021 |language=en |archive-date=24 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324112846/https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/cricket/article/thats-not-bad-for-a-90-year-old-man-when-don-bradman-joked-with-sachin-tendulkar-about-batting-average/804552 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Bradman and Tendulkar {{!}} The untold story of two of cricket's giants {{!}} ABC Australia | date=16 March 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQJev5nUvdE |access-date=24 March 2023 |language=en |archive-date=24 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324113912/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQJev5nUvdE |url-status=live }}</ref><blockquote>I (Tendulkar) asked him a question: 'What would you have averaged in today's cricket?' He thought about it and said 'Maybe 70'. The natural reaction was 'Why only 70 and not 99?' He said, 'C'mon, that's not bad for a 90-year-old man.'</blockquote>Hospitalised with pneumonia in December 2000, he returned home in the New Year and died there on 25 February 2001, aged 92.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2001/death_of_don_bradman/1189778.stm ''Bradman dies at 92''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207183735/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/in_depth/2001/death_of_don_bradman/1189778.stm |date=7 December 2021 }} [[BBC News]]. Retrieved on 14 May 2008</ref>

A memorial service to mark Bradman's life was held on 25 March 2001 at [[St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide|St Peter's Anglican Cathedral, Adelaide]]. The service was attended by a host of former and current Test cricketers, as well as Australia's then prime minister, [[John Howard]], leader of the opposition [[Kim Beazley]] and former prime minister [[Bob Hawke]]. Eulogies were given by [[Richie Benaud]] and [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]] [[Sir William Deane]]. The service was broadcast live on [[ABC Television (Australian TV network)|ABC Television]] to a viewing audience of 1.45&nbsp;million.<ref>Hutchins (2002), p. 4.</ref> A private service for family and friends was earlier held at the [[Centennial Park Cemetery]] in the suburb of [[Pasadena, South Australia|Pasadena]], with many people lining both [[Greenhill Road, Adelaide|Greenhill]] and [[Goodwood Road, Adelaide|Goodwood]] Roads to pay their respects as his funeral motorcade passed by.