by Scott Sacry, Sports Editor
Back in 1982 while the “Eye of the Tiger” topped the charts, and Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were leading the Lakers to the NBA championship, a young Montana basketball coach named Dave Bradshaw started a basketball camp in Stanford, Montana.
The camps gave boys and girls entering 2nd to 9th grade a foundational knowledge of how to play basketball. When Bradshaw moved to Corvallis from Stanford he brought the camps with him to the Bitterroot Valley, and there have been camps here ever since. For then on, Bradshaw’s camps have been a summer staple.
“We had a great camp this year, with around 160 kids,” said Bradshaw, “The kids really kept us going over the years. It’s been special the last couple of years to see the moms and dads when they pick up kids from the camp because a lot of the parents were also campers themselves.”
The Bradshaw Basketball Camp had its final camp on Thursday, June 19, ending a run of 43 years of summer basketball camps. The camp was a family affair for the Bradshaws. Camp Director Dave Bradshaw, back row, third from left, with all the Bradshaws at the 2025 camp. Photo courtesy of Dave Bradshaw.
But just like the 1980’s Lakers dynasty, all good things must come to an end, and on June 19, the Bradshaw Basketball Camp held its final camp session at the Corvallis High School, ending a run of 43 years of summer basketball camps.
“This was such a strong family thing for us all,” said Bradshaw. “My brother Mike helped coach throughout it all, and my sons Shea and Riley have been able to help as well. It was special to be together with everyone each summer. We all kind of had an empty feeling when we left the gym on Thursday. Our whole family has a passion for basketball and coaching and we just wanted to pass that along to the kids. But it was time.”
During this 43 year time period, Dave Bradshaw coached high school boys basketball, was an assistant girls and boys basketball coach, and coached 7th-grade girls and boys basketball. For 22 years he was the head coach of the Corvallis High School boys basketball team. Dave retired with over 400 wins. He was also a teacher at Corvallis for 39 years. This last season, Dave was an assistant coach for his son Shea, who is the head basketball coach for the Florence boys.
Although the fundamentals of basketball have stayed the same over the years, Bradshaw had to adjust to the kids and the times.
“At our first camps we really worked them hard,” said Bradshaw. “Back then we had the boys for six hours a day for five days. Compare that to our last camp, we only had two hours in the morning for the boys and two hours in the afternoon for the girls for four days.”
Coach Bradshaw and his coaches taught hard work, teamwork, and sportsmanship to thousands of young athletes over the years and the overall impact is hard to fathom.
“One of our camp coaches, Aaron Holmberg, is a good example,” said Bradshaw. “He went to the camp as a kid, then played for me in high school, then his daughter went to the camps, and then he helped me coach at the camps for a long time, and now his daughter is helping with the camps.”
“I started this camp with one goal,” said Bradshaw, “to help kids fall in love with basketball and believe in themselves. These camps started with me, but over time they’ve become something we do as a family, and something much bigger than basketball. I want to say thank you to every camper, parent, coach, and supporter who’s been part of the journey.”