Author Hardy

Hardy completed the first grade at the segregated Brutonville School. He transferred to Weaver in the second grade. From that point through his graduation from Weaver in 1979, he was the lone Black student in his class, yet as a senior he was elected by his classmates as class president. Along the way, being in sports for the Bearcats — he played basketball, baseball and ran track — kept him a part of the group.

As a seventh, eighth and ninth-grader Gene Bussey coached the younger Bearcats.

Hardy played varsity basketball for three years and was a member of the varsity track team for three years. In basketball, the 6-foot-2 Hardy was a coach’s dream.

He averaged a double-double each of his three varsity seasons. As a sophomore, his averages were 15.0 points and 14.9 rebounds. The Bearcats went 17-9. During his junior season, Weaver was 20-9 — its first 20-win campaign — and Hardy averaged 20.96 points and 17.7 rebounds. As a senior, he led the Bearcats in scoring at 25.6 points per game and in rebounding with 17.6 rebounds per outing. Weaver finished 17-12.

Weaver’s three-year wins and losses record of 54-30 during Hardy’s varsity career remained Bearcats’ best for the next 25 years.

As a junior, Hardy was one of 10 players selected to the all-tournament team for the 1978 Calhoun County basketball tournament. In the 1979 county tournament, Weaver lost to Jacksonville in a semifinal game but Hardy was voted the tournament’s most valuable player by the coaches.

During Hardy’s career at Weaver, one all-county basketball team was chosen from among all 11 high schools playing basketball, regardless of size. The coaches named Hardy a first-team selection for three consecutive years. As a junior, he was the only underclassman chosen. He was the only unanimous choice as a senior. After his senior season, Hardy had started every game, and never missed a practice, for three consecutive seasons.

In track, Hardy’s events were 110-yard high hurdles, 330-yard intermediate hurdles, long jump, triple jump and high jump. As a senior, he won the intermediate hurdles in the big-school division of the district track meet and was fourth in the event at the state meet.

Hardy received a basketball scholarship to Northeast Alabama State Junior College in Rainsville where he played for two seasons and earned an associate’s degree. He had planned to complete his college education on a basketball scholarship to Berry College. When the school changed coaches, Hardy returned to Calhoun County and completed a B.A. degree in commercial art at Jacksonville State in 1985.

Hardy joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as an agent in 1987. He was encouraged to consider a career in the FBI by a local agent he met while working at the Anniston YMCA. Hardy remained with the FBI for more than 24 years.

written by Joe Estep