www.canisiushigh.org
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sk Joseph Hanna what hitting a golf ball off the deck of a warship feels like. Throwing
out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game. Ringing the closing bell at the New York
Stock Exchange.
He’s experienced all of the above as a result
of his creation in 2008 of Bunkers in Baghdad,
an initiative that collects golf balls and other
golf equipment for soldiers to use. The idea for
Bunkers came to him after he read an article that
said hitting golf balls was a real stress reliever for
soldiers. Today, the effort has sent nearly 2.5mil-
lion balls and other equipment to troops in 13
countries, all 50 states and VA hospitals. It has
garnered the support of stars like Phil Mickelson
and Jack Nicklaus and been adopted by school-
children nationwide who raise funds and write
letters to accompany every shipment.
In his professional life as an attorney, Hanna
is a partner in the commercial litigation depart-
ment at law firmGoldberg Segalla LLP in Buffalo.
Named a partner a little after two years there,
he was at that time the youngest partner in the
country at a law firm Goldberg’s size. Today, he
focuses on sport entertainment law, represent-
ing professional athletes from the NHL, NBA and
NFL, among others. Hanna’s also the head of the
firm’s diversity task force, which has led to an-
other successful service initiative. In 2008 (clear-
ly a productive year for him), Hanna created a
diversity networking event called Success in the
City designed to bring together business, corpo-
rate and community leaders from throughout
the community.
“Buffalo is one of the most segregated cities in
the country, so we bring together people from
all walks of life and from throughout Western
New York in an effort to foster new relation-
ships,” he explains. The event has grown from
around 150 attendees to more than 500 this
past year. Hanna also is president of the Minority
Bar Association of Western New
York and editor-in-chief of the
American Bar Association’s
Minority Trial Lawyer newslet-
ter. His tireless work in multiple
arenas has brought its share of ac-
colades, among them New York
Bar Association’s Outstanding
Young Lawyer Award; American
Bar Association’s Outstanding
Chair for 2010; and the Defense
Research
Institute’s 2011
Community Service Award (for
Bunkers).
Though his spare time must
surely be in short supply, Hanna
maintains a strong relationship
with Canisius even today. In fact,
he and his mother have created
a scholarship in their names in
memory of his father, Joseph G.
Hanna, who died when his son
was 12. The funds will go to an
incoming freshman based on fi-
nancial need and on an essay
describing what the candidate would do if he
were president. Says Hanna, “My father always
stressed education and my momworked hard to
sendme to Canisius.
“My parents instilled in me the importance
of helping others, to never think you’re better
than anybody else and try to be the best you can
be. Hopefully that seed they planted has
grown, and I’ve been able to pass some of it
along to others.”
✠
“I always tell people that Canisius over-preparedme for college.
It actually preparedme for law school.”
Joseph Hanna ‘98
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