Woody Hahn, who has played professional sports, owned a minor-league baseball team and served as commissioner of three collegiate leagues, was named the Division II Conference Commissioners Association’s 2009-10 recipient of the Award of Merit.

The CCA has given the award annually since 1999. Hahn was honored October 16 during a ceremony at the CCA meeting in Kansas City. Past winners include Grand Valley State President Emeritus Don Lubbers, Pfeiffer President Charles Ambrose and Division II Vice President Mike Racy.

Hahn, considered a pioneer in Division II athletics, helped organize the Continental Divide Conference and later the Great Northwest Conference. But his longest tenure was at the helm of the Pacific West Conference, where he served as commissioner from 1988-2007.

During his tenure, the PacWest expanded from Montana and Alaska in the north to Hawaii and New Mexico in the south − and included conference schools in virtually every state in between − from Washington to California. When the league split with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, he helped the new PacWest stay alive where it eventually re-emerged as an active conference.

Hahn has served on numerous NCAA committees, including the Management Council, Nominating Committee and Postgraduate Scholarship Committee. He also chaired several regional advisory committees and was tournament director of many regional championships.

Hahn played baseball at Washington State University and was later a pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals minor league organization during the early 1960s.

He earned a masters’ degree from Eastern Montana and began working in high school athletics. He also became the general manager of the Billings Mustangs professional baseball team from 1968-78 (he currently serves as president and part owner). Later, he was the longtime golf coach at Eastern Montana and then served as athletics director at the Billings school from 1977-86.