Today and every day, UC Irvine and UCI Athletics take pride in honoring those that came before us and those who still to this day defend, serve, and protect this country as members of the military. With May as Military Appreciation Month, we spotlight the Hadeen family and their connection as Anteaters and service members.
Woody Hadeen is in his third year with the Anteaters as a middle infielder. In his first two seasons, he played nearly 100 games as a switch-hitter that excelled in making sacrifices of his own consistently topping the team in hit by pitches, sacrifice hits, and stolen bases. This is junior season was lost due to an injury, and while he plans on returning to the field next season, it hasn't kept him from being a presence on the field and in the dugout all season cheering on and leading his team in other ways.
Woody's family did not play college athletics, instead they jumped right into service right out of high school enlisting in the United States Marine Corps right out of high school, both his dad Scott and mom Amy, with different paths to somehow wind up in the same spot.
Scott Hadeen grew up in Colorado and after enlisting was sent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. Amy grew up in Connecticut and upon enlisting was shipped to the MCRD at Parris Island in South Carolina. The pair would first cross paths on their next stop in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, the site of the U.S. Army Military Police School which they would each graduate from. Next stop was across the Pacific to be stationed in Okinawa, Japan spending a year there together as military police standing on the gate, on the flight line, patrolling the little city that was the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
Eventually, the Hadeens would return to the states serving in Barstow for two-and-a-half years, going inactive reserve time, re-enlisting and spending four years at Camp Pendleton, until they shifted to police officers.
The duo now serve police departments in Southern California with Scott part of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and Amy in the Los Angeles Police Department within the 77th Division.
Twenty-three years each serving as officers for the USMC and now Riverside and LAPD, 21 years married, and now supporting Woody and the baseball program. "It was a blast! They're very hard-working and always had a smile on their faces when they got home. That was a big factor in my life and made me feel special," Woody recollected on growing up with his parents in the service.
A salute to the Hadeens; heroes each and every day.
