Dane Bradshaw, president of Thunder Enterprises, is photographed in the offices of the Jasper Highlands subdivision in Marion County on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, in Kimball, Tenn.It was easily one of the more touching moments of the Bruce Pearl Era at Tennessee. Just before his final home game at Thompson-Boling Arena, senior guard Dane Bradshaw learned that Pearl was endowing a scholarship in the Memphis native’s name. Then the Volunteers went out and knocked off defending national champion Florida, a late Bradshaw steal and free throws sealing the upset.
“It meant so much to me — still does,” Bradshaw said last week. “But the joke I always tell people is that I thought it was such a generous thing to do until I found out that Steven Pearl (the coach’s son and a UT walk-on) was the first recipient.”
Such humor should serve Bradshaw in his new part-time gig as a color commentator on the new SEC Network. He debuts tonight with the network’s showing of Stony Brook’s 7 p.m. visit to Georgia.
“If it was a full-time job I might have had to say no,” noted the Memphis native who now calls Chattanooga home. “We’ve now got three children under three years of age (Brooklyn arrived last week to add a third Christmas stocking next to Baylor, 2, and Millie, 1), and I don’t think my wife (Julia) would have wanted me gone that much.
“Plus, I love doing what I’m doing now in land development with John Thornton. I never thought I’d be so excited about power lines, driveways, roads and stuff.”