ASU baseball and the Arizona Diamondbacks partnered to honor former Sun Devil and current Diamondbacks employee Cory Hahn in a ceremony prior to Friday night's game against Eastern Michigan.
Hahn played baseball at ASU before a tragic accident in 2011 left him paralyzed from the chest down. In 2013, the D-backs selected Hahn in the 34th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft and gave him a job in the scouting department.
Last year, the club named its annual 34th-round pick the "Cory Hahn 34th pick."
ASU baseball hosted Cory Hahn Night on Friday to celebrate the creation of the Cory Hahn Center Field Scholarship Endowment. The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation presented Sun Devil Athletics with a $200,000 gift for the scholarship before the game.
Cory Hahn 3.4.16 from Justin Toscano on Vimeo.
"When we were approached by ASU to partner together, it was a no-brainer for us," D-backs President and CEO Derrick Hall said. "It makes sense for Cory's legacy, it makes sense for a true partnership between the Diamondbacks and ASU, who he has impacted so largely."
Hall said bringing Hahn to the D-backs organization has been one of his biggest personal points of pride.
Hahn, who said he rarely ever gets awestruck, said the emotions of the presentation left him speechless, especially when the new signage with his name and number in right field was revealed. It means he is opposite ASU athletics legend Pat Tillman, whose memorial signage is in left field at Phoenix Muni.
Cory Hahn throws out tonight's ceremonial first pitch. pic.twitter.com/wTYN5EsTFm
— Justin Toscano (@justintoscano3) March 5, 2016
He also threw out the evening's first pitch.
"When you see the two most important things to me come together, it really leaves you with a whirlwind of emotions," he said, "because you never think of those ideas happening and when they do come together for a cause like this, it's pretty moving. Not just to myself, but I'm sure to pretty much everyone in that stadium who saw that."
On Thursday, ASU head coach Tracy Smith said Hahn's story and attitude are inspirational for the program's current players.
Following Friday night's 12-4 win, Smith said while no one can truly relate to Hahn's situation, everyone can admire the way he has dealt with it.
"I think anybody here tonight is lucky that they get to be a part of that," he said. "It's sickening at some level the circumstances would bring it to what it is today, but we say all the time in life you can choose to react one way or you can choose to react another way. I think it's just unbelievable what he's done since that day. ... It just makes you sit back and say, 'he's a special person.'"
Hall echoed the thought, calling Hahn's attitude "infectious."
Hahn said the attitude comes from his drive to complete his goals — some of them were things like getting through school and others are being able to get back up on his feet and walk again.
He said he is just battling to lead a normal life.
"I think one thing we can draw from my story, my situation is that we need to appreciate everything we have and everything we do on a daily basis," he said. "It's one of those things that you don't really realize it necessarily until it happens to you, and when it does, you want to be able to show everybody that you don't ever give up and you keep fighting."
Reach the reporter at Justin.Toscano@asu.edu or on Twitter @justintoscano3.
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