Special Olympian makes National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame history – Evanston RoundTable
Evanston’s Caroline Colianne was named the first Special Olympian to join the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday.
“For them to recognize what our athletes bring to the world is fantastic,” said Peter Beale-DelVecchio, CEO of Special Olympics Illinois. “So often they’re told, ‘You can’t do this’ or ‘You shouldn’t do this’ or ‘Never do this.’ And time and time again, just like Caroline, they show the world that they can do it.”
Caroline’s journey began 18 years ago, when her father called Leonard Woodson, who was and still is in charge of Evanston’s Special Olympics program.
Woodson still remembers the call.
“He said, ‘Hey, my daughter is in Evanston. She’s just kind of sitting around. She used to run track a lot, but now she’s not doing much of anything’.”
Woodson met with Caroline and her father. “She was very shy,” Woodson said. “She kind of sat face down the whole time.”
She had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Woodson told Caroline, who was 25 at the time, she could join Evanston’s Special Olympics track and field team if she would do extra training. She did and went to the Special Olympics Spring Games “super nervous,” Woodson recalled. Caroline won two gold medals and qualified for the state summer games in Bloomington. “She had a great time downstate,” he said.
Since then, Caroline has taken part in dozens of competitions, including medaling in four swim events at the Special Olympics USA Games in 2014. She returned to the Special Olympics USA Games in 2022, winning a silver medal in the 800-meter run and competed in several other sports.
But she joins the Hall of Fame for her outreach efforts as much as her athletics. Besides swimming and track, she plays softball, basketball, flag football and snowshoes. She lives independently in Evanston. She swims at the YWCA Evanston/North Shore, teaches swimming at the McGaw YMCA and is the assistant teacher in the preschool program in the McGaw YMCA Children’s Center.
“She has recruited more than a dozen friends to Evanston’s Special Olympics program and serves as a Special Olympics global messenger, speaking at corporations about how the Special Olympics has benefitted her,” Woodson said
On Thursday night, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame made the announcement at the Robert Crown Community Center gym, which was filled with Caroline’s friends, who were practicing basketball, and many of their parents, who were told that an athlete was to receive a special honor.
“We are initiating an award called The Hero With Heart,” said Hall of Fame President Ron Onesti. “She is a star.”
Parents Mike and Jane Colianne drove from their home in North Aurora to be part of the event. It’s Mike whose family emigrated to the United States from Italy.
“What an honor,” he said.
The Chicago-based Hall of Fame has inducted more than 300 athletes — including Joe DiMaggio, Vince Lombardi, Yogi Berra, Ron Santo, Mario Andretti, Mary Lou Retton and Jennifer Capriati. The formal induction ceremony for Caroline and others will be held Nov. 15 at the annual gala at Belvedere Banquets in Elk Grove Village.
Tickets for the gala are still available.
“I’m just still getting used to this,” Caroline said. “Sports has helped me make new friends, helped me become more outgoing and it’s given me confidence.”
After the announcement, Caroline’s Special Olympics friends crowded around her and congratulated her. Courtney Larimer, one of Caroline’s longtime friends, burst into tears.
Caroline understood. “She’s all right,” Caroline said. “She’s crying in happiness for me.”
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