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Chardon's Philip Colucci hasn't let cerebral palsy stop him from athletic career in wrestling, football

News-Herald - 2/11/2023

Feb. 11—Michael and Sandra Colucci fought back tears as they walked arm-in-arm with their son, Philip, across the mat at the Chardon wrestling team's Senior Day festivities.

With each step, memories flooded back to them from the journey they have shared with their son the past 18 years.

Like the day when they brought their son, born 15 weeks premature, home from the hospital weighing just 1-pound, 7-ounces and 12-inches long, and the heartache that overcame them when Philip's twin, Anthony, died in the hospital three weeks after birth.

Like the day Philip was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Like the day the family was told that they should invest in a wheelchair because their baby boy would never walk.

Ever.

But as Michael and Sandra Colucci walked across the mat with their son, their smiles pushed back the tears because A) they were WALKING with their son who was told he'd never walk, and B) their son is finishing a remarkable high school career at Chardon in which he participated in football and wrestling all four years.

"Tears of joy, tears of gratitude, tears of emotion... all the above," the proud father said. "He's beyond inspirational."

Heading into this weekend's Western Reserve Conference wrestling tournament, Colucci was winless in his weight class. His stat line in football doesn't include any yards gained, touchdowns scored or tackles made.

But for four years, Philip Colucci battled through the adversity that came with his cerebral palsy, the jeers from students both from his school and from other schools and the doubts he had in his own mind. But he never missed a practice, never asked out of a drill or used his disability as a crutch.

And Philip Colucci says he has no regrets.

"What's amazing is you will have kids that play a bunch and have had success on Friday nights that need to be convinced to play the following year. Philip never had to be convinced to be part of something bigger than himself and he rarely played, but he knew better than most at that age that the game is much more than playing time."

— Coach Mitch Hewitt

"It's not about playing time or how many touchdowns or tackles you have," Colucci said. "It's about how much you want to push yourself to be better.

"I'm going to miss playing sports at Chardon. But I have no regrets. Everything in my life I am blessed to have."

The early years

Colucci faced long odds and and a tough road from the get-go. Being born four months premature and being so small at birth presented challenges.

"He had to be intubated multiple times, for months," Sandra said of the weeks after the boys were born at Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital in Cleveland. "He was born in August and didn't come home until Christmas Day."

Sadly, Philip's twin, Anthony, died at 3 weeks old.

Then came the day that doctors informed the family that their surviving son had cerebral palsy.

"When he was first diagnosed, we were absolutely heartbroken," Sandra said. "They said (the cerebral palsy) would never get worse than the first diagnosis, but it was hard for all of us. At 18 months, he couldn't even sit up because his stomach muscles were so tight."

Once their son was old enough to do so, the family enrolled him in physical therapy sessions. But when Philip was 4, the physical therapist gave them a diagnosis that shook them to their core.

"They said to get him a wheelchair because he'd never walk," Michael said, his voice cracking with emotion.

Giving up wasn't an option for the family. Simply accepting their son would be in a wheelchair forever wasn't OK. Sandra recalled that when he was young, Philip's right arm was so much more dominant that they would hold that arm down to force him to use his left more often.

"A little bit of tough love," Sandra called it.

When Philip was 4, a family member offered to pay for him to do whatever he wanted. Philip wanted to try wrestling.

An athletic career was about to begin.

Finding a home in sports

To this point, nothing had come easy to Philip, his parents or his big sister Savannah. But the family relented in Philip's desire to give wrestling a try.

"Big shoutout to Brian and Sarah Hauter," Michael said. "Without them, it would have been very, very hard to get into youth wrestling. Brian was his coach and Sarah did the work to make it happen, to make it possible for Philip to wrestle."

As expected, it wasn't easy. Philip struggled to walk, get down on the mat in wrestling moves and to perform. It scared his parents.

"Oh, without a doubt there's a fear factor," Michael said. "I remember one open tournament he did a high bridge and the only things on the mat were his forehead and his tippy-toe. His head went sideways and it looked like he broke his neck."

But Philip? He loved wrestling. LOVED it.

"I grew up with wrestling," he said. "From the time I started doing it, I loved it."

Energized with the confidence of wrestling, the coordination playing sports brought to him, and the friendships he was building, Philip told his parents he wanted to take a crack at football. Joining the team in seventh grade with the support of friends like Jacob Snow and Kaz Rajko, Philip started a new sport while also sticking with wrestling.

He even scored a touchdown his seventh-grade year.

High school was on his doorstep. Would he continue to participate in sports at a higher level? Everybody already knew the answer.

"You can't tell him no," Michael said with a laugh. "He's going to put up a challenge if you do, that's for sure. If he wants to do something, he's gonna fight you tooth and nail for it."

High school adversity

Frustration reared its head when Philip was a freshman football player. It was then that he found out the impact he had on his teammates, friends that might have been closer friends than he knew at the time.

"His freshman year, he had just lost his dog and was going through some tough times," former teammate T.J. Altman, a 2022 graduate, said. "I saw him storming off the field and knew something was wrong. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said 'Dude, I can't deal with this anymore.'"

It was perhaps the first time that Philip wanted to give up. But he wanted to play more. He wanted to be like everyone else. Losing his dog made things worse.

Altman wouldn't have it.

"I took him and said, 'Look, man, not everyone knows the person you are. Stick with it,'" Altman recalled. "I promised him if he stuck with it, we'd win a state championship together. Don't give up."

Sandra said that support network, friends like Altman, Aiden Smith, Dillon Jenkin, Robert Vunderink, picked Philip up emotionally.

"Spending time with my friends and giving back to my community, that's why I stick with it," Colucci said. "They've done everything for me to make me feel at home."

As his father alluded to when his son brought up wanting to wrestle, the Chardon coaches also found out quickly that Philip does not want to be treated differently.

"Nobody is ever going to tell him no," wrestling coach Nick Salatino said. "He's been through everything. He shows up all the time. He could be sick with snot running down his nose, and he's going to be there every single day.

"We have 400 or so boys in this school and only 20 are brave enough to wrestle. He's one of them."

Football coach Mitch Hewitt agreed. It doesn't matter how hot a sunny summer day is, how hard it's raining or snowing in the fall, or how hard the drill is — Philip wants to do it. And he does it knowing he's not getting into the game on Friday night, except for a play here or there at the end if Chardon is ahead.

"There is nothing the team does that Philip wouldn't do," Hewitt said. "He has never opted out. His parents deserve a ton of credit for not making him a victim of his circumstances. He went through everything like everyone else."

Hewitt marvels at Philip's persistence in the face of the adversity that he has been dealt. A boy who has had EVERY REASON to walk away didn't and hasn't.

"What's amazing is you will have kids that play a bunch and have had success on Friday nights that need to be convinced to play the following year," Hewitt said. "Philip never had to be convinced to be part of something bigger than himself and he rarely played, but he knew better than most at that age that the game is much more than playing time."

Winding it down

Chardon Memorial Stadium had all but emptied out on Nov. 4 when Colucci sat by himself on the turf, staring up at the scoreboard after the Hilltoppers' 35-7 win over Geneva in a Division III playoff game.

It was Chardon's — and Colucci's — final home football game. As usual, he didn't have any yards rushing, touchdowns or tackles. But the finality hurt him.

"I met him out on the field at the 45-yard line and told him the last time we stood there together is when he told me he was going to quit," Altman said, harkening back to Colucci's freshman year. "He broke down in tears, hugged me and thanked me for not letting him quit."

While the euphoria of being part of the Hilltoppers' 2020 and 2021 state championship football teams are memories Colucci said he'll always cherish, he bristles at he and his teammates coming up short this past fall.

"I wanted that one too," he said with a smile.

But like with everything else, he chooses to count blessings for what he DOES have, not what he doesn't. And that's a treasure chest full of memories, a boat load of friends and the satisfaction of forging ahead when everything about cerebral palsy said he shouldn't.

"We are so extremely proud of him," Sandra said. "He's never given up. He has a winless season in wrestling, but he doesn't care. We don't care. He loves it."

After graduation, Colucci said he plans on getting a part-time job and then start learning the ropes of being a wrestling coach. He got a jump-start on those endeavors recently helping out with a youth wrestling tournament in Burton.

"His legacy will always be here," Salatino said.

Philip Colucci's journey has never been easy. From being born premature to losing his twin brother before he ever knew him to persevering through a crippling disorder to participate 13 years in wrestling and six years in football, he has navigated a path that many couldn't or wouldn't.

He's a three-year letterwinner in wrestling, a letter-pin winner in football and the recipient of this year's Dom Ricci Award in football, which goes to an athlete with relentless effort that best reflects the character of Ricci, who died in a car accident in 2017.

"He has shown that stats don't matter. Numbers don't matter," father Michael said through his tears. "It all comes down to heart, and his is bigger than anyone's."

His Chardon career winding down, Philip shrugged.

"It's been a great experience here," he said. "I've got the greatest coaches and friends. I'm just blessed to be in this great community."

After seeing how Philip Colucci has represented them, the Chardon community likely reciprocates their pride in him.

___

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