Austin High School’s Distinguished Alumni announced for 2023

Two former residents will speak to local students and ride in the downtown Homecoming parade in early October for being honored as Austin High School’s “Distinguished Alumni.”

U.S. Master Sgt. Baffour Agbey (Class of 1999) and Patrick Bradley (Class of 1969) are the 2023 Distinguished Alumni as selected by the Austin High School Alumni & Friends Association.

On Thursday, Oct. 5, Agbey and Bradley will be part of a reception and dinner at Austin High and will take part in the Homecoming festivities on Friday, Oct. 6, including the afternoon parade and evening football game.

The public is invited to the Oct. 5 reception and 6 p.m. dinner in honor of Agbey and Bradley at Austin High in the commons outside of Knowlton Auditorium. Dinner tickets are $25 per person and need to be reserved by Friday, Sept. 29, by calling Alumni & Friends chair Jeni Lindberg at 507-433-4557 or by email at: [email protected].  A school assembly is set for the morning of Oct. 5 at Knowlton Auditorium, where Agbey and Bradley will speak to students.

Agbey, of DuPont, Wash., joined the military the next day in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and is a U.S. Army Master Sergeant with 20 years of service, including as a combat medic providing care during Operation Iraqi Freedom while actively engaged with enemy fire. He has 16 years of training and developing experience, specifically for medical officers preparing for overseas deployment; and seven years of hospital management expertise with a Top Secret-SCI clearance. He now works with HireMilitary as a talent acquisitions recruiter, serving the military’s transitioning members and their families, and he is the owner and chief of operations for Wildland Medics LLC, training wildland firefighters.

Bradley, of Edina, Minn., is a Twin Cities small business and real-estate attorney, philanthropist and investor in Austin’s downtown revitalization projects, starting in 2006. One of the projects was the major remodeling and historic preservation of the building that today is the Austin ArtWorks Center. He then purchased adjacent buildings that also dated back to the late 1800s and had their exteriors historically restored and interiors remodeled.

Agbey attended Austin Public Schools from kindergarten through 9th grade before his family moved to Albert Lea in his 10th grade year. Yet, Agbey has always considered Austin his hometown and himself an Austin Packer. His niece, Saraya Donovan, is an Austin High senior this year, and his nephew, Wayde Hall, an Austin High Class of 2019 graduate, is serving in the U.S. Army.  “Be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Agbey said of his advice for students.

Agbey lived that motto when he joined the military the day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Disregarding my natural fear of heights and blood, I deliberately chose to serve as an airbone medic,” said Agbey, who is a parachutist now training firefighters to be dropped into a wildfire.  Assigned to military units in multiple U.S. states and foreign countries, Agbey has managed complex projects and developed
innovative ways to train and develop not only systems but people. He’s a certified military instructor and earned a business studies degree in 2012 from Wayland Baptist University.

In 1977, Bradley started the Bradley/Deike law firm and has had a successful career representing small business and real-estate owners. He also served on numerous private and nonprofit corporate boards of directors.  Outside of business, Bradley has taught religion classes; served as a mock trial coach and judge at the high school and college levels; and supported numerous charities, including the University of Minnesota; Ordway Theatre, Minnesota Orchestra; Minnesota Science Museum; and Austin ArtWorks. In 2012, he helped raise more than $260,000 for the University of Minnesota’s research into ataxia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and ALS while serving as chair for the Bob Allison Ataxia
Research Committee’s major fundraiser, the Diamond Awards.

Bradley wants students to remember that education – and the tuition we pay for that education – are “life-long.”