Athletic Achievers

When Sofia Cantore joined America’s National Women’s Soccer League, little did she know she was stepping over a threshold that had never been crossed before. Before the age of 26, Italian soccer star Sofia Cantore compiled an impressive resume in her native land. At just 17, she signed with Juventus, considered the top club in Italy’s top women’s soccer league, and appeared in over 120 league matches, tallying more than 40 goals and 20 assists in the process. At the international level, Cantore is a Team Italy mainstay. She scored five goals for Le Azzurre in fewer than 50 games …

Born and raised in the Chicago area, Christina Toniolo helped lead Team Italy to victory in the European championships. When Fra Noi last checked in with softball pitcher Christina Toniolo for the June 2024 issue, the Crystal Lake, Illinois, native reported that she’d been recruited to the Italian National Team and helped the squad earn third place at the Canada Cup International Softball Championship. In 2025, Toniolo suited back up for “Le Azzurre” and helped the team accomplish even more. Team Italy won the 2025 Women’s Softball European Championship Gold Medal, claiming the top prize in the 21-team tournament. Toniolo …

The granddaughter, daughter and youngest sibling of talented rowers, Christina Salvi is carving out a place for herself in the sport. The New Trier High School Freshman Girls crew battled choppy waters, fended off fierce competitors and ultimately won a gold medal at the top rowing tournament in the country on May 24 at the Scholastic Rowing Association of America’s Championship Regatta. The event was hosted on the Cooper River in New Jersey, just a few miles east of Philadelphia. Christina Salvi, one of a team of eight rowers guided by a coxswain, says that before the final race the …

Recently retired after nearly 40 stellar seasons as head coach of the DePaul women’s basketball team, Doug Bruno continue to pitch in as a special assistant to the program. After 39 seasons of exemplary leadership on and off the court, Doug Bruno has stepped down as the head coach of the DePaul women’s basketball team. Through his long career, Bruno established himself as one of the most prominent and influential figures in collegiate women’s basketball. He was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022 and the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. He also …

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 …