Hardy Is Basketball MVP; Pistons Pick Him in Draft

Ernest Hardy, captain of Harvard's 1969-70 basketball team, received the squad's Most Valuable Player Award last night at the aunual basketball awards banquet at the Harvard Club in Boston.

Varsity coach Bob Harrison, who announced Hardy's selection as the MVP at the end of the banquet, also announced that Hardy had been drafted by the Detroit Pistons of the N. B. A. He received a negotiable contract from the Pistons with instructions to begin training workouts with the team on September 5.

"I'll know he'll be working hard to make it." said Harrison. "Ernest realizes that he's got a lot of untapped potential that he'll have to develop, and by concentrating more on individual moves, he should have a shot at it," he said.

Hardy, who at 6'5" will probably play forward in the pros though he played center for the Crimson, set a Harvard rebounding record last season, for the most rebounds in the Ivy League season. He had 162 rebounds in Ivy play and finished second in League rebounding behind Tom Schwartzkopf of Cornell.

"This summer I hope to get ready for training by "playing basketball in the Baker League in Philadelphia or in some league in Puerto Rico," said Hardy, who was obviously happy about the prospects of playing pro ball.

"We got a chance to say a little about the past-which was tough, and a little about the future," Dale Dover, who will captain next season's squad, said after the banquet.