Quad Rugby/Story - Mongiovi inducted into USQRA Hall of Fame

UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION

April 2002

Wheelchair rugby star's game knew no limits on court
JENNIFER GOLSON

05/16/2002
The Star-Ledger Newark, NJ
(c) 2002. The Star-Ledger. All rights reserved.

Angelo Mongiovi of Fanwood was inducted into the United States Quad Rugby Association's Hall of Fame last month in Denver. Angelo Mongiovi snatched the ball and put it in his lap. Then he hunched over in his wheelchair, raced to the end of the indoor court and crossed the goal line. He spiked the ball with a triumphant thwack. The maneuver, captured on videotape, was classic Mongiovi. Made in 1999, the tape documents uncanny speed, intensity and agility on the court.

It was those traits that earned Mongiovi a spot this year in the United States Quad Rugby Association's Hall of Fame.

The 49-year-old Fanwood resident, who no longer plays the game, relies on wheelchairs and crutches to get around, the

result of polio. But without the physical impairment, Mongiovi said, he might not have enjoyed the benefits and rewards of

competition.

"I was able to hear the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at the awards ceremony while wearing my red, white and blue uniform, seeing

the tears in the eyes of my teammates and coaches and knowing that I had contributed to the attainment of that goal, our

team goal," he said of the induction ceremony, held last month in Denver.

The Quad Rugby Association is the umbrella organization for more than 40 teams of wheelchair rugby players in the United

States. There are about 450 players nationwide, said Ed Suhr president of the association.

Canadians invented the wheelchair version of the sport, an offshoot of wheelchair basketball and hockey. It's called Quad

Rugby because of the aggressive contact, Suhr said. Players can get the ball over the goal line any way they can, making it a very punishing sport. A typical match involves clashing wheelchairs that often tip over as the players collide, and the athletes grunt and sweat as hard as able-bodied football players.

But Mongiovi brought something else to the court, Suhr said. "Angelo had a certain charisma and flair on the court, while

also playing very aggressively," Suhr said. "He was able to just dominate a game, pretty much by himself at times." An injury and the birth of his youngest daughter, Alyssa, prompted Mongiovi to retire from the sport in 2000. Nowadays the father of three occasionally gets his workout in the driveway of his Tillotson Road home with his son, Zachary, 15, and his oldest daughter, Jessica, 11.

Mongiovi was born in 1952. By the time Jonas Salk released his famous vaccination, Mongiovi was a toddler spending his days in the hospital for physical therapy. The disease destroyed the connectors between his nerves and his muscles.

"Being disabled is what I know," said Mongiovi, who grew up in Newark and Clark. "This is how I grew up." He played sports with the local children and joined his first organized team in 1973 while he was a student at the Newark College of Engineering, now the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Another student using a wheelchair invited him to a practice in Montclair with the New Jersey Blue Devils, a wheelchair

basketball team that included men from around the state. From basketball, he got into wheelchair racing and his prowess in

both arenas led him to recurring spots on the U.S. team at the Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games in England. In 1991, a colleague from one of his international competitions urged him to try Quad Rugby. Peter Zarba of Long Island kept pressing until Mongiovi joined him for a practice with the Strykers, a team with the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association of America.

"My whole pitch with him was, 'Just try it once,'" Zarba said. "It's just like basketball, but there are no rules. In rugby,

you can cream people. In basketball, they blow the whistle." After his first round of competitions, Mongiovi said he was

hooked, and he later helped lead the team to a series of national championships.

Mongiovi said he wasn't expecting this year's honor when he received a message from the commissioner for the Quad Rugby

Association about the Hall of Fame. Though he has retired, Mongiovi said he still loves the sport. "I think people who watched me play could tell I just loved what I was doing," he said.

_____________________
Jennifer Golson covers Fanwood. She can be reached at jgolson@star ledger.com or (908) 322-2433.

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