Bill Bradley stands on the dock after disembarking in Southampton, England, on his way to Oxford University in this Oct. 7, 1965 photo. (AP Photo)

When the ship docked at Southampton, England, Bradley -- the best-known of the new crop of Rhodes scholars heading to Oxford University -- plotted a way to ensure his privacy immediately.

He persuaded a friend to help him sneak past the British photographers waiting at the dock to chronicle the arrival of an American basketball star.

The friend carried a lacrosse stick as he left the ship. He called it his "basketball stick." And he introduced himself to the photographers as Bill Bradley.

At Oxford, Bradley was free to explore a new world, away from the routine and pressure of basketball, away from the spotlight that followed him as college player of the year.

He had chosen studies over stardom after college, turning down a lucrative contract and a chance to play with the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.

Years later, Bradley explained that he had grown weary of being "channelized by society, perhaps considered a smart athlete or an athlete with character, but still a particular kind of object instead of a particular human being."

At Oxford, he learned more about himself in his free time as he learned more about the great thinkers in class. He zipped about town in a used Volkswagen, engaged in the occasional food fight, examined the distorting effects of young celebrity.

"At Oxford I had time to experiment with every aspect of my life," he wrote later. "For the first time since I was 14, I took chances with my body -- hiking, racing cars, and playing contact sports -- without fear of injury.

"Eating five meals a day I even gained 30 pounds. I questioned my religious faith and sought workable moral values instead of simply rules. I became more playful and rebellious."

Bradley, now a Democratic presidential candidate, studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford's Worcester College. Outside the classroom, he traveled through Europe, the Soviet Union and the Middle East and delved into the works of Joseph Conrad and other novelists.

His interest in Oxford had been sparked during a summer tour of Europe before he went to college. The itinerary brought him to Oxford's majestic campus where "the freshly cut lawns seemed to invite you to sit under a tree and read."

Back home in Missouri after the trip, Bradley read books about Oxford and learned about the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, awarded each year to 32 Americans to finance two years of study at Oxford. He discovered that Princeton had produced more Rhodes Scholars than any other university.

Bradley had already turned down Princeton in favor of Duke University, a basketball powerhouse. But with Oxford now a goal, he abruptly changed his mind and headed to New Jersey to attend Princeton.

He did win a Rhodes Scholarship in December of 1964, his senior year at Princeton. Just after Christmas, he announced he would go to Oxford, then to law school, skipping professional basketball.

Dan Okimoto, Bradley's senior-year roommate at Princeton, corresponded with him at Oxford and said the future senator enjoyed "two of the most relaxed years of his life, an opportunity to pursue his intellectual interests, to grow and develop as a human being away from the limelight of national press scrutiny."

Although he was determined to leave basketball behind, he was drawn back to play with a Milan-based team that played one game a month in a different European city.

As his time at Oxford neared an end, Bradley decided to pass on law school. In April 1967, the New York Knicks signed him to what was then the biggest contract in basketball history: $500,000 over four years.

Bradley explained that he had discovered at Oxford that he loved the game and "that I want to test myself against the best." The Knicks would go on to win two championships during his 10-year career.

His choice of Oxford over basketball presaged Bradley's decision to leave the Senate in 1996 after three terms. Just as he returned to basketball after two years on his own at Oxford, Bradley returned to politics, running for president after two years of traveling, lecturing and writing.

Throughout a very public life, first in basketball and then in politics, Bradley has insisted on his right to be a private person. The years at Oxford showed him how important that was.