Inducted into the URI Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978
Inducted into the RI Heritage Hall of Fame in 1980
Inducted into the RI Gridiron Club Hall of Fame
Inaugural inductee of the URI Hockey Hall of Fame in 2026

Brad Boss was born and raised in the Edgewood section of Cranston. He inherited his father’s love of the game and followed in his footsteps playing hockey at Cranston High School, graduating in 1951. That Fall, he entered the University of Rhode Island where he founded the college’s first men’s hockey club.

Over the next three years, URI competed with other regional club teams the likes of MIT, AIC, Army, Springfield College, and the occasional scrimmage with Division 1 Providence College with whom they shared home ice at the RI Auditorium. To his great disappointment, URI disbanded the club in Brad’s senior year and so began Brad’s determined efforts to see it gloriously revived one day.

In 2002, thanks to his decades-long advocacy and generosity, the Bradford R. Boss Arena, a 2,500-seat ice arena dedicated in the name of his father, opened on the Kingston campus of the University of Rhode Island.

Today, URI sports one of the most successful club teams in the nation with an eye towards Division 1 status. Of equal importance, the Boss Arena opened up new opportunities for youth programs and the growth of the game throughout southern Rhode Island.

In addition to founding and playing hockey at URI, Brad earned eight varsity letters in tennis and sailing, excelling at the latter sport as one of the top ten skippers in New England. He would later serve 3 ½ years in the US Navy.

Very active in URI alumni and athletic affairs, Boss has been an outstanding civic-minded individual who has served the University and the community in numerous capacities since his graduation. He became an honored inductee into their Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978.

Brad was recognized as one of the top business executives in the nation serving as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Costa Inc. (formerly known as A.T. Cross Company of Lincoln, RI) from 1960 until April 1993. He continued to serve as Chairman of the Board until November 14,1999, then becoming Chairman Emeritus.

He also served as Director of the Industrial National Bank, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, and President of the URI Fifth Quarter Club.

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