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 book talk will be followed by an author signing.

 Aaron Bracy is a longtime sports journalist in Philadelphia with nearly 30 years of experience as a sportswriter and sports editor, beginning as an undergraduate at Saint Joseph’s University, where he wrote for the student newspaper and broadcast games on the student radio station. He then covered high school, college, and pro sports for the Main Line Times, Trenton Times, Courier-Post, and The Trentonian before leaving journalism full time for a career in education. Since 2008, Bracy has been a freelancer for the Associated Press’s coverage of the Philadelphia 76ers, Flyers, Eagles, Phillies, and college basketball. His website, Big5Hoops.com, is a leading voice for coverage of Drexel, La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, and Villanova, which comprise the Big 5.