Arthur Hardy

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.