Meet the Author Book Talk

For his new book, A Soaring Season: The Incredible, Inspiring Story of the 2003–04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks (Brookline, 2025), Aaron Bracy did exhaustive research and more than 100 interviews with 90 people to recount how the Saint Joseph’s Hawks, who were led by coach Phil Martelli and point guard Jameer Nelson, became the most unlikely and captivating story in college basketball in the 2003–04 season. With an underrecruited team, an underfunded program, housed in underwhelming facilities, everything about this mom-and-pop operation felt small-time—everything, that is, except the team, which rose to be unanimously ranked No. 1 in the country after finishing 27-0 in the regular season. Bracy will share stories from the book, explain his research and writing process, play a brief highlight video from the season, and discuss how libraries have positively impacted his life.

The talk will be followed by a book signing.