Close

This is the story of a boy born in the United States, but an Italian citizen. It's the story of a boy who one day decided to stop jumping and start running and from last year's Tokyo Olympic Games to the present day, has become the fastest and most successful athlete in the world. This is the story of Marcell Lamont Jacobs, a young Texan, born in E...

1716

Adolph Maestranzi was born with Down syndrome in 1951, at a time many parents were told it might be best to institutionalize a child with the condition and move on with their lives. Instead, his parents Ben and Madelyn Maestranzi raised him in a home filled with music, good food and love from his four siblings. “My brother went on to live a rich, f...

752

Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team did more than spotlight a piece of local history when it changed its name to the Guardians after the 2021 season. The renaming also shined light on a point of pride for the area’s Italian American community. The Guardians’ name is taken from the “Guardians of Traffic,” eight massive Art Deco sculptures that st...

858

Chris Riverso, former Director of Football Operations and Recruiting Coordinator at Grambling State University, was named Director of Football Operations at Fordham University it was announced by head coach Joe Conlin. Riverso arrived at Rose Hill after spending the 2021 season as the Director of Football Operations and Recruiting Coordinator at Gr...

612

Duke’s Paolo Banchero is leaping to the NBA after one season as a candidate to be the No. 1 overall draft pick. The 6-foot-10, 250-pound freshman announced his decision in a social media video Wednesday, with the school saying he planned to hire an agent. “It has always been a dream of mine to play at Duke, and it has always been a dream of mine to...

636

Lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini will be the guest of honor at the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame’s Night at the Fights on May 5 at the Des Plaines Theatre. Olympic medalist Antonio Tarver, Junior Welterweight champ Paul “Paulie” Malignaggi and WBC Lightweight champ David Diaz will also attend, and entertainment will be p...

652

Players and coaches from three state-championship teams are among more than three dozen people who will be honored May 16 at the sixth annual San Francisco High School Awards, presented by the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club. The football teams from Balboa and Sacred Heart Cathedral and the Stuart Hall boys basketball team will be feted in a ba...

669

Matteo Spagnolo has officially entered his name in the 2022 NBA Draft, as announced by his agency Sigma Sports. The 19-year-old is playing in Vanoli Cremona on loan from Real Madrid. The Italian guard is averaging 12.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 10.7 PIR over 25 Lega Basket Serie A games this season. On March 8, 2020, the 1.94-meter ath...

680

Fans of the recently minted Las Vegas Raiders have been tuning in to Erin Coscarelli since the team officially made the leap from Oakland in 2020. A year later, Coscarelli signed on as a co-host of ABC’s popular “The Ultimate Surfer.” Having blazed a trail in sports broadcasting, she has deftly navigated a field dominated by men. But the path to su...

506

The Sons of Italy lodge is again opening up its bocce court to host Special Olympians, and this year the athletes will compete to qualify at the state level. “This is going to be our first state-qualifying tournament ever,” coach Doty Toohey said.  “We’re pretty excited for that. The state of Ohio and Columbus has called down. … They participate he...

571