Museum President Paul Basile couldn’t believe his ears. National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame Executive Board Member and Legal Counsel Enrico Mirabelli was calling to inform him that the sports hall would be donating $5,000 to the museum! The remarkably generous bequest was given in memory of founder George Randazzo’s military service.

Paul gathered intel from museum curator Steve Corbo, a longtime friend of Randazzo, sharing the following with the audience at the NIASHF’s Nov. 9 gala. “You may not know this, but George served in the First Air Cav during Vietnam. No division of the Army suffered more casualties during the war than that division,” Paul said from the podium.

“He earned a Purple Heart for wounds sustained during combat, and he fought at La Drang, one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the war. It is truly an honor to accept this donation in that memory.”