A full crowd came out last night to a local comedy club to honor a former UA athlete who died two months ago in a car accident.
Brian Corrigan, a 36-year-old wheelchair athlete and former UA Wildchair who died Feb. 2, was honored at last night's benefit show at Laffs Comedy Club, 2900 E. Broadway Blvd., where he had recently begun his career performing "sit-down comedy."
Corrigan was driving home at 2:30 a.m. after leaving the comedy club when he was hit and killed by a driver suspected of being drunk, who ran a red light.
The week after his death, Johnny Dingo, a comedian and manager at Laffs, collaborated with big-name comic Rick Overton, who met Corrigan the night before his death, to organize the event, which benefited the Brian Corrigan Memorial Scholarship and the Tucson Lobos, a wheelchair basketball team of which Corrigan was a member.
"We said, 'Let's make something good from something bad,'" Dingo said.
The comedy show was not the first event organized in Corrigan's name, who played for the UA men's wheelchair basketball team from 1990 to 1996, as well as the track, tennis and road racing teams, said Dave Herr-Cardillo, assistant director of Adaptive Athletics.
After Brian's death, Phil Corrigan, Brian's father, worked together with Herr-Cardillo to create a memorial scholarship that would be given to a UA student-athlete who reflected Corrigan's spirit.
"We were looking for a free-spirited person, similar to Brian, who shared a love for sports," Herr-Cardillo said.
At halftime of Lame for a Game April 7, Alana Nichols, an education junior, was awarded the $1,500 Brian Corrigan Memorial Scholarship.
"I was definitely surprised," Nichols said.
Nichols said the most significant part about receiving the award was knowing she was chosen specifically based on certain criteria. More importantly, she said she recognized the work Corrigan's parents are doing in Tucson to speak out against drunk driving.
"After such a terrible, tragic event, they are making such a positive impact on the community, including myself," said Nichols, whose father was also killed by a drunk driver. "So they're not only educating people, but also supporting student wheelchair athletes."
Friends of Corrigan who attended the event at Laffs last night sported Superman T-shirts in honor of one of his comedy routines.
At the end of Corrigan's routine, he would rip off his shirt, revealing a Superman outfit underneath, and "fly" off the stage into the audience, said Pat Hardin, Corrigan's mother who lives in Oracle.
"He would scare the audience half to death," Hardin said.
The fearless cartoon character fit Corrigan's personality because of his knack to perform almost any sport or activity he could, Hardin said.
"He thought he was indestructible," Hardin said. "People would see him in a wheelchair and think, 'He can't do anything.' Well Brian tried just about everything, and had a great time doing it."
Though Corrigan was athletic before the accident, Hardin said he dared to go water skiing, bungee jumping, snowboarding and even talked about scuba diving.
"I think that's why he was inspirational," Hardin said. "He had the courage to try things that most people wouldn't do."