Athletic Achievers

While other kids were batting, pitching and fielding their way toward careers on Major League Baseball’s fields of dreams, Wayne Randazzo’s sights were set a little higher. Countless young boys grow up following Major League Baseball on TV or the radio and dream of one day being part of the game. Wayne Randazzo wished for a life in baseball, but not as a player — he wanted to get to call the action. “Pretty much ever since I knew I needed a job when I got older, this has been the job I wanted,” says Randazzo, 40, who is in …

As the point person for Lega Serie A USA, it’s Andy Mitchell’s job to raise the profile of Italian soccer in one of the world’s most coveted markets. Since 1898, when Italians have wanted to enjoy calcio at its finest, they’ve turned to Lega Serie A, one of the top domestic soccer leagues in the world. In the spring of 2022, the Italian league opened an office in New York City and tasked Andy Mitchell with convincing more Americans to join in the fun. Calcio is the most popular sport in Italy and its national team is second only to …

A standout centerfielder at Bartlett High School, Josh Colaizzi has all the attributes of a pro player according to his coaches. Among all the athletic luminaries honored at the 2024 Chicago Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame ceremony gala in November, Josh Colaizzi was the only one too young to enjoy a celebratory glass of wine. Colaizzi, 17, took home the evening’s Future Star Award for all the baseball accomplishments he’s managed to rack up as a teen. Colaizzi, a centerfielder, made the Bartlett High School varsity team his freshman year and quickly established himself as a star player and leader. …

Steve Serio, co-captain of the U.S. Men’s National Wheelchair Basketball team, says he never thought he would have the honor of being named a flag bearer for Team USA. And yet there he was with fellow para athlete Nicky Nieves, leading the 225-member Team USA Paris delegation down the famed Champs-Élysées during the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. “To be voted flag bearer among my peers, it’s one of the most special moments of my career,” Serio says. Serio’s career has had no shortage of special moments. As co-captain, he helped lead the U.S. men’s wheelchair basketball …

What do Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola, Frank Crespi and Jim Pisoni have in common? The baseball legends have been immortalized on a mural in Cuggiono, Italy! All four were born between 1918 to 1929 on “The Hill,” the legendary Italian-American neighborhood in St. Louis, to parents who had emigrated from western Lombardy, where Cuggiono is located. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousands of residents of Cuggiono and nearby towns such as Inveruno, Malvaglio, Buscate and Arconate immigrated to the United States, with St. Louis being one of their primary destinations. The idea to honor the four baseball stars …

  An award-winning rower in high school, John Salvi overcame brain cancer and returned to his sport, stronger than ever. Rower John Salvi won nationals as a high school senior and came in 5th place at the U-19 World Championships last year. Impressive in their own right, Salvi’s accomplishments are even more significant in light of the fact that he battled brain cancer while in high school. He’s been in remission since October 2022. “The sport is massively physically intense and mentally exhausting, which makes success in the sport that much more fulfilling,” says the 19-year-old, now a sophomore studying …

Growing up watching old kung-fu martial arts movies, Thomas Glielmi started teaching himself how to do flips from trees, fences and garages. “I liked the adrenaline rush,” the 59-year-old recalls. That drive led Glielmi to join a men’s gymnastics team in high school, which set him on a course to forge an uber-successful career as a gymnastics coach over the last two decades. As head coach for Stanford University men’s gymnastics since 2002, Glielmi guided his athletes to clinch seven NCAA championships, including the last five. As head coach for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team, Glielmi helped lead Team USA …

Though he missed going to the 2024 Olympics by a fraction of a second, the progress Vincent Ciattei has made point toward a promising future in middle-distance running. After years of grueling training and long-harbored dreams, falling just short of making the U.S. Olympic team can deal a devastating blow to any athlete. While it certainly was a blow for Vincent Ciattei, it also spelled a qualitative leap in performance that has opened the door to exciting new opportunities for his track-and-field career. The 29-year-old suburban Baltimore native finished fourth in the 1,500-meter race at the U.S. Olympic Trials in …

A standout collegiate softball pitcher, Christina Toniolo took her game to an unimagined level after she was recruited by the manager of Team Italy. In early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, softball pitcher Christina Toniolo had a feeling she needed to pick up a phone call whose ID said “Italy,” even though as a rule she ignored unknown calls. That decision changed her life. Toniolo, who will be 23 this month, is a member of Italy’s national women’s softball team. Though she graduated last year with a degree in biology from the University of Illinois Chicago, she chose …

Crediting pool with saving him during a dark period in his life, Eric Naretto has risen through the ranks of the sport through a combination of fascination and dedication. 2023 was the best year as an amateur competitive pool player for Eric Naretto, who credits the sport with helping him develop into the person he is today. Naretto, 35, of Pontiac, Illinois, placed third in Skill Level 7, the highest level in 8-Ball Classic at the 2023 American Poolplayers Association national championship, and he was the runner-up in 9-Ball at the 2023 Midwest Billiards and Cue Expo championship. The accomplishments …