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Hobart Rowland
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Michael Bradley first ran into John Hoyt a few years ago. “But I didn’t have much of a chance to speak with him at the time—and, frankly, I didn’t quite know what to say,” admits Bradley.
Like Hoyt, Bradley is a graduate of the Haverford School—though the two went in vastly different directions after they received their diplomas. A frequent contributor to Main Line Today, Bradley has found his niche as a freelance writer, sports-radio personality and college professor. Meanwhile, Hoyt, despite his once-lucrative jet-setting career as a male supermodel, will forever be living down the stigma of “that guy in the cult.” With a keen eye for detail and a seasoned writer’s finesse, Bradley tells Hoyt’s story in “Long Road Back.” And that story is as incredible as it is disturbing.
“When I encountered John again last December, something was different,” Bradley says. “In many ways, he was the same guy I remembered from high school—I graduated a year before him at Haverford. He was funny, gregarious and full of energy.”
And he was willing to share his story. “Not as a way of commanding attention,” says Bradley. “More to let us know that he’d overcome a brutal experience and was all right. As I researched the article and spoke with him and others, it was remarkable how he had channeled that part of his life into a positive force for his work and, more importantly, for others.”
No doubt, Hoyt’s story is fascinating on its own. “But what John has been able to accomplish afterward is even more impressive,” Bradley says. “His resilience is extremely rare and a testament to his character.”
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: For many of us, the Shore will always loom large in our summer plans. But we don’t all have the luxury of spending three solid months frolicking along the Atlantic. The good news is that our region is far from a summer snooze fest. To illustrate that point, we’ve compiled a lengthy list of warm-weather entertainment options to tide you over (no pun intended) until the AC Expressway beckons.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AWARDS AND MORE: Longtime Main Line Today contributor James Waltzer’s 2016 novel, Of Sound Mind, was a recent runner-up in a contest sponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association. He’s also just released a new e-book, Last Resort (Wild Wolf Publishing, 298 pages). The tense courtroom drama has “plenty of sin, sex and murder—all the elements readers expect of me,” says Waltzer.
In other awards news, End of the Line columnist Katie Kohler took home first place for column writing at this year’s statewide Professional Keystone Press Awards. And I’m happy to report that Main Line Today is a finalist in this year’s National City and Regional Magazine Awards. That honor comes in the Spread Design category.
