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All the United States Illinois Chicago National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

Honoring Italian greats from Joe DiMaggio to Rocky Marciano.

Chicago, Illinois

Added By
Lew Blank
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Football jerseys   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Rocky Graziano’s boxing gear   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Baseball paraphernalia   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
View of NIASHF from entrance   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Team USA display with some Wheaties   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Racing suits   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Bobbleheads on the second floor   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Heisman Trophy   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Museum as seen from outside   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Panorama of the museum’s first floor   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
Matt Biondi’s original gold medals   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
2007 World Series Pennant   Lew Blank (Atlas Obscura User)
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About

From Rocky Marciano to Vince Lombardi to Joe DiMaggio, Italian Americans have left a lasting impact on American sports, and one museum in Chicago’s Little Italy commemorates the greatest of the greatest.

At what must be one of the world’s most narrowly focused museums, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame honors some 230 of the greatest Italian-American athletes, broadcasters, and sports workers to ever benefit athletics in the United States.

The hall of fame encompasses a wide variety of games, from traditional sports like baseball and football to more obscure pastimes like ballooning, bodybuilding, and roller derbies.

Throughout the three-story facility, you can find boxing gloves, bobbleheads, football jerseys, and racing suits. There's an original Heisman Trophy, a bat used by Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti’s Indy 500 race car, Rocky Marciano’s first heavyweight championship belt, and Vince Lombardi’s Packers coat.

The collection began back in 1977, when Chicagoan George Randazzo, a longtime fan of Italian boxers, started the American Boxing Hall of Fame with the mission of raising money for struggling Chicago youth. After seeing the hall of fame’s success, Randazzo opened up the boxing display to include Italian-American athletes from all kinds of sports. Favoloso!

 

Related Tags

Italian Sports Museums And Collections Baseball Wrestling

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Added By

lewblank

Edited By

deronlillard

  • deronlillard

Published

July 19, 2017

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  • http://www.niashf.org/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-SMl_wtArQ
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_Italian_American_Sports_Hall_of_Fame
National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame
3417 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, Illinois, 60634
United States
41.942244, -87.806756
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