The Arena — Hardy '70

By Stephen Hardy, Class of 1970

Nate Towne and his sister Elsie serve the Boston Arena as manager and publicist. Their skill sets are challenged in February 1916 when the Arena receives letters and phone calls that seem to link gamblers with a mysterious and violent gang. Tensions and death threats swirl around Hobey Baker, the greatest amateur athlete of his generation, who leads his New York St. Nicholas Club in a series of games against the Boston Athletic Association's Unicorns, with a championship on the line. The Townes and their allies race against time in their battles with the wounds of war, grief, gender and racial discrimination, and corruption. The struggle to identify the gang leaders and protect Baker ends in a deadly gunfight that shatters the Townes' beliefs in amateur sports.