In the thick of battle during the Vietnam War, Sam Scardino was so severely wounded in a landmine explosion that doctors initially thought he had perished in the blast. The second of five children, Samuel Scardino was born in Chicago to Samuel and Doris (Marquardt) Scardino.

The family lived in the Italian neighborhood of California and Arthington avenues, near his grandparents, Vincenzo and Filomena, who emigrated from Campobello di Mazara, Sicily. With grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins right down the street, the family always gathered at someone’s house. “No matter what you did, on Sunday after church you had to go to dinner,” says Scardino. His mother, though of German descent, cooked Italian food and made everything from scratch.