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| It was the late spring of 2001. A young George W. Bush had just taken office. Crazy Town was burning up the charts with their hit song "Butterfly", and everyone was sure that it would not be the last they heard from this amazing band. A group of friends looking to kill time during their summer vacations from college slowly worked into a monday night pattern. Every monday they would order cheap pizza from Little Ceasars, watch wrestling, and then look for a night cap to the evening. Sometimes it was a late movie, sometimes it was a night of video games, occasionally it was binge drinking, but rarely was it anything constuctive. At some point, one of these friends had the brilliant idea to go out to the local college and play volleyball under the lights for recreation. It was at this time, these friends, this 'Fellowship of the Volleyball', started making it's weekly trek to the courts. Nick Bruno, with his boundless energy and patent disregard for playing set positions in volleyball; Justin Park, the elder statesmen of the crew; Tim Brandt and Trent Davis, who for all intents and purposes were the same person; and Cody Murray, whose arm and leg length were only matched by the lengths he would go to insult a teammate. Over the course of several weeks, one thing became apparent...these guys were good. Droves of shirtless frat boys tried their hand at volleyball, each being easily dispatched by this new team. At one point they won 17 games in a row, and held the court for nearly 3 straight hours. It was at this time that a name needed to be chosen. Several ideas were thrown around, including "the Magnificent Five", or "5gether". Cody Murray had the idea to call the team "5 the Hardway". The team really enjoyed gambling, and like the homage to the fine game of craps, and also liked the irony of the fact that a five cannot be thrown the hardway in a game of craps. Over the next couple of years, the wins kept coming and coming, and the legend of "5 the Hardway" grew. Pretty soon, the name was shortened to just "Hardway", and the team broadened its scope, joining indoor volleyball leagues, softball leagues, and dominating local poker circuits. From its humble beginnings in 2001, to the dominating force it is today, this team has been about 1 thing, winning. The sky is the limit for Hardway, and their legend continues to grow...... | |||||||||||||||||