Cory Hahn who won gold with Team USA Baseball in 2009, is an alum of Mater Dei (Calif.) High School. As a senior for the Monarchs, he was named California’s Mr. Baseball, MaxPreps California State Player of the Year, California First-Team All-State, Orange County Player of the Year, Los Angeles Times Player of the Year, and Trinity League Player of the Year. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 26th round of Major League Baseball’s 2010 First-Year Player Draft but did not sign.
Hahn attended Arizona State University on a baseball scholarship for the Sun Devils baseball team. In 2011, in his third career game, as a freshman, he suffered a career-ending and life-altering fracture to his C-5 vertebrae, resulting in a spinal cord injury. This devastating injury created paralysis from the neck down, thus presenting quite massive hurdles in front of Hahn. Following his injury, Hahn remained a part of the team as a student coach from 2011-14. He also has never stopped charging in life, tackling each hurdle with full force and passion to defy the odds placed against him.
While at ASU, Cory received the Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award, bestowed annually upon student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics. He also received the Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal, awarded annually to each member institution’s outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics, and leadership.
In June 2013, Hahn was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 34th round, in honor of his uniform number, of MLB’s First-Year Player Draft with a long-term plan of joining the D-backs Baseball Operations department. Hahn is currently the Assistant Director of Player Personnel, where he oversees the pro scouting and pro personnel departments.
Cory, along with his passion for the game of baseball, has a genuine passion to contribute to society in a positive way and, through his journey, inspire those around him. He founded and runs Project 34, a 501c3 non-profit organization that has the mission to positively impact the lives of individuals living with spinal cord injury. He not only lives the life of a spinal cord injury survivor but is on the front line of assisting others with the same injury and generating strong awareness in his communities.
He inspires the uninspired. He generates belief in oneself and demonstrates that defying the odds is a firm possibility.
