PEORIA — Joe Napoli Sr. long ago made his mark on the central Illinois sports scene. Now the Peoria native has a legacy gone national.
The former college baseball star and well-known attorney and sports agent has been chosen for induction into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. It honors and inducts athletes, broadcasters and sports executives of Italian descent who have demonstrated true greatness, on and off the field.
Napoli Sr. will be enshrined at a gala staged at 6 p.m. on Oct. 24 at The Belvedere in Elk Grove Village, just outside of Chicago. The event will be preceded by a private, informal dinner for inductees and their families on Oct. 23.
The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, located at 3417 N. Harlem Ave. #2 in Chicago, launched its first induction class in 1977 and now includes 290 inductees. It has a building under construction in 2025.
Past inductees touch a cross-section of sports, from East Peoria native Joe Girardi, and former Peoria Chiefs player and now Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. It also includes ESPN broadcaster Sal Paolantonio and countless other great names from sports past like Joe Pepitone, Mike Modano, Tom Izzo, Phil Mickelson, Dick Vermeil, Dick Vitale, Rick Pitino, Mary Lou Retton, Joe Paterno, Tony Esposito, Harry Caray, Tom Lasorda, Joe DiMaggio, Vince Lombardi, Mario Andretti, Rocky Marciano and more.
Napoli Sr. was born in Brooklyn and spent four years in the Air Force before choosing to play baseball for Bradley University. He was a third baseman for the Braves from 1957-60, and in his senior year led the nation with a .490 batting average and earned Missouri Valley Conference first-team honors. He finished with a .392 career batting average.
Napoli Sr. declined tryout invitations from MLB teams after his Bradley career and instead enrolled in John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He returned to Peoria and joined Davis Morgan law firm, and taught law courses at Bradley through 1989.
Over the years he represented several BU basketball players who played professionally, including Hersey Hawkins, Steve Kuberski, Roger Phegley, Mike Williams, Mitchell Anderson, David Thirdkill and Donald Reese.
He was instrumental in getting Marcus Pollard a tryout with the Indianapolis Colts. He represented many Peoria Rivermen players and other local athletes.
Napoli is a member of both the Greater Peoria Hall of Fame and the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.