Ryan Bradford’s warm and welcoming personality made everyone want to be his friend.
Ryan Bradford, who was involved in the Special Olympics, loved sports and his welcoming personality was one of his best attributes.
The good-natured teenager loved sports, active for years as a Special Olympics Athlete with the Kent Wild Kats area program and participated on Caesar Rodney High School’s Special Olympics Unified teams.
“He was the kind of kid everybody liked to be around,” said Dave Manwiller, the area director for the Kent Wild Kats for Special Olympics Delaware.
Bradford, who turned 18 on Friday, died overnight Sunday. He had been in critical condition at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia due to smoke inhalation after being injured in a house fire Thursday in Magnolia.
“It was so easy for him to make friends,” Manwiller said. “The kids at the high school liked him. The kids on the Special Olympics team liked him. All the coaches liked him. He was always friendly, an outing-going kid.”
In addition to participating in the Special Olympics, Bradford was involved in the Best Buddies program and the Blue-Gold program. Bradford received the notable recognition of being the buddy chosen last year by Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with intellectual disABILITIES to represent Delaware as the gold team honoree. From January to June of 2015, when the Blue-Gold football game was held at the University of Delaware, Bradford would attend DFRC events and represent the buddies.
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Tony Glenn, the executive director at the DFRC with intellectual disABILITIES, said he would most remember Bradford’s acceptance of everyone and how he loved life.
“There was so much to learn from him just watching him,” Glenn said. “He possessed the keys to life. We learned a lot from him, not with just what he said, but how he lived his life. You would have to not have a pulse to not understand how he cared, how he embraced others.
“He would just walk up to you with that smile and embrace you. He did that with everybody.”
Manwiller, who had known Bradford for a few years, said Ryan and his family had been involved in Special Olympics Delaware for “a long, long time.”
“Ryan displayed great spirit and determination as he enjoyed several team sports year-round within our program,” Special Olympics Delaware said in a statement. “His smile was contagious and his personality one that endeared him to anyone who knew him. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him.”
Bradford’s parents, Ryan and April, have both been coaches in the Special Olympics. His sister, Katelyn, is a unified partner and also coaches. Bradford’s father is a soccer official in Delaware, and the younger Ryan would go to the soccer games his dad officiated.
Bradford participated in softball, bowling, soccer and basketball. A couple of Bradford’s soccer teammates from this past year visited Ryan while he was in the hospital.
“I think Ryan really enjoyed soccer,” Manwiller said. “He enjoyed softball as well. His dad was one of our softball coaches. He was always at all the practices.”
To help the Bradford family, Special Olympics Delaware created a fund and will cover all administrative costs associated with the contributions made through the fundraising page (http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/specialolympics-delaware-1/BradfordFamilyFund). A car wash will be held Saturday, July 9 at Caesar Rodney High to help raise money for the family, too.