Buffalo Lawyer Teams Up With Phil Mickelson to Honor Military

Phil Mickelson is Buffalo attorney Joseph Hanna’s favorite professional golfer.

So Hanna was somewhat impressed when he received an email from Mickelson’s representatives about a possible opportunity to join forces.

What both men have in common is the efforts they have each made over the years to support military personnel and their families.

Hanna delivered millions of golf balls and clubs to troops overseas while running Bunkers for Baghdad, and Mickelson, a six-time major winner, and his wife, Amy, launched Birdies for the Brave, a military outreach initiative.

“For 15 years, we have admired Phil and Amy Mickelson from afar for all they have done for our military and troops around the world. … And here we are today as partners,” said Hanna, president and founder of Bunkers in Baghdad. “We are now working with a generational golfer, and certainly someone I have admired for many years.”

The partnership kicked off with an event in Houston for 40 military families, where children of Air Force and Navy personnel decorated golf balls and wrote letters to send to the troops in addition to golf equipment. They also received golf lessons from Mickelson and his LIV golf team, HyFlyers Golf Club.

Through Bunkers for Baghdad’s Bunkers Buddies program, children send personalized messages to troops overseas and here at home, helping to teach the next generation about the importance of kindness and service to others. Thousands of students and teachers in approximately 2,000 schools across the country have participated in the program.

Mickelson, whose father was a Navy aviator, can be a polarizing figure. He has come under intense scrutiny as one of the first golfers to leave the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, which is funded by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. But Hanna said he was “impressed by how generous Mickelson is with his time.”

“I have been around many professional athletes, artists and musicians in my day-to-day work over the past 20 years, and (Mickelson’s) kindness, interest and empathy for what military families do every day for our country was phenomenal to witness,” Hanna said.

Also present at the event was former professional golfer and current presenter David Feherty, who inspired the idea for the Bunkers in Baghdad.

Over the past 15 years, Bunkers in Baghdad has shipped 15 million golf balls and 1.5 million golf clubs to members of the nation’s military. The organization has collected new and used golf equipment for troops stationed in 76 different countries and every state, as well as for Wounded Warriors programs across the country to help rehabilitate wounded veterans.

The organization has partnered with companies such as Callaway Golf, Topgolf, the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, as well as Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Despite having three young children at home and a busy day job for Goldberg Segalla, Hanna said he was motivated to keep the nonprofit going because the work created so many meaningful connections with troops deployed around the world.

“As long as we get requests from our troops and veterans, we will continue to move forward,” he said. “It’s the least we can do for all they do for us.”

Beau Fleuve Music & Arts has partnered with New Era Cap to launch a limited collection of Beau Fleuve branded hats.

The Buffalo-based company is launching a series of custom-designed caps in anticipation of the eighth annual Beau Fleuve Celebration Weekend in August.

New Era, also a Buffalo company, selected three regional artists to participate in the Celebration cap activation, and those artists curated cap side patches to feature on the Beau Fleuve cap. They are Patti Thomas, Ghost Room Art; Tyshaun Tyson, Lfthanded Bandit; and Emeka Wajed, MadebyMek.

In addition to the August 25 event, the collection will be featured at several Beau Fleuve pre-event activations throughout the summer and in a pop-up shop at New Era’s flagship store in downtown Buffalo.

The 24th PDFA Discflect World Championship tournament will be held in Buffalo in August.

The Professional Discflect Association and Kan Jam will host the open tournament on Aug. 24 at Buffalo RiverWorks, 359 Ganson St., Buffalo. It will feature two divisions (Amateur and Pro), with no prior qualification required. Amateurs will compete for prizes and professionals for cash, with a minimum grand prize of $1,000.

Kan Jam is a game originally invented in Buffalo. The PDFA was formerly known as the KanJam League and had worked with Kan Jam for nearly 20 years to organize this tournament. Discflect is a two-player flying disc team sport that involves throwing and deflecting a disc toward or into a goal.

All tournament information, including the full schedule and registration link, is available at www.PDFA.com/2024worlds.

Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest on what’s happening in Buffalo Niagara’s economy, from real estate to health care to startups. For more information, visit BuffaloNext.com.

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The Buffalo Next team gives you a broad overview of the region’s economic revitalization. Email your tips to [email protected] or contact Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.

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