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They both have that Italian blood coursing through their body, fueling a passion for family and football. The father – Mike Dimino – is the coach, fierce, sometimes frantic and always in charge at Del Campo High School. The son – Tyler Dimino – is the quarterback, steady, accurate, unflappable with the admiration of his teammates for leading an 11-...

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Mike Adamle spent a lifetime in sports, playing for three NFL teams and working in a 40-year sports media career that has ranged from WMAQ-Ch. 5 sports anchor to covering the Olympics, so he seems a like natural for the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, which will induct him Saturday. Perhaps with one hitch. “It’s funny, we have this t...

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Joe Fortunato was such a dominating force during a 12-year career with the Bears that if he had played elsewhere, he might be even more revered as one of the game’s all-time great linebackers. But as a member of the Bears and a teammate of Bill George, known as the first true middle linebacker in the sport, Fortunato’s credentials never got quite t...

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Brock Olivo's parents could have been HGTV stars had they been born to this era. Honestly, it's not hard to imagine. "I'm David Olivo, and this is my wife, Vicki, and our two children, Brock and Daisy. After my NFL career ended, Vicki and I found a new passion together, moving into old homes and renovating them before moving on to the next one. Wel...

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“The Italians were better fitted for games of quickness, dexterity, and skill, rather than rugged strength, and were too fiery and impulsive of feeling for contact sports”. Compared to American athletes, Italians' “tendency to the extreme of elation, or to the opposite extreme of despondency” made them “fearless, daring, and reckless” but also “mor...

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For five years, it was the same disheartening scenario. Giorgio Tavecchio would intrigue a team just enough to make its preseason roster and go through training camp, only to get cut. Sometimes it was earlier, sometimes it was later. But always he’d find himself at home, watching yet another NFL season start without him. “Close,” Tavecchio said whe...

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This foray into football began innocently enough for Giorgio Tavecchio. It was fun. A catchy Italian song from the 1950s, “Eh, Cumpari!” by Julius La Rosa, bounced from the stadium speakers at Campolindo High in Moraga, California, whenever the Italian-American took the field for a field goal or extra point. He relished the time spent with friends....

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In the 1950s the NFL continued to expand. The Cleveland Browns, the dominant team of the AAFC competing league that during the decade in the league, won the NFL title in 1950 on their first participation. In 1951, after a stop that lasted from 1942, the Pro Bowl came back. In 1953 the racial policies of the league were challenged by a Federal Court...

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Even the most peripheral of football fans have heard of Vince Lombardi. In his eight seasons with the Green Bay Packers, he coached them to five NFL championships, including Super Bowls I & II. Indeed, the Super Bowl Trophy is now named after him. Among his most famous quotes are his thoughts on winning through teamwork, and these include: “People...

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Not only does Al Pacino have a lot in common with Joe Paterno — both are iconic Italian-Americans born in New York before the United States joined World War II with last names that differ by only a syllable — he also looks a lot like in him. On Sunday, Variety.com published an image of Pacino, who will play the all-time winningest college football...

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