Hometown Hero

Chicago Cubs player Anthony Rizzo is known as one of the best players in the sport – a stellar first baseman who, in 2016, helped lead the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908. 

Yet, many of his fans, especially those in his native South Florida, also know Rizzo as a dedicated philanthropist. After being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 18 in 2008, Rizzo decided to launch a charitable foundation to raise money for cancer research and assist families affected by cancer. 

Today, when Rizzo, 30, isn’t winning the coveted Gold Glove award, belting out home runs and making great plays at first base, he’s celebrating life as a newlywed and dedicating his time and energy to giving back. 

His love of baseball began in Parkland, where Rizzo was born and raised. The sport was a family affair: He and his brother, Johnny, began playing Little League at age 5; their father, John, volunteered as a team coach; and their mother, Laurie, provided snacks for players. 

Rizzo continued his baseball career at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox Minor League system shortly after graduation. He was living the American dream – until he fell ill with what he thought was a kidney infection.

“I had just finished a great spring training session when my body starting hurting and my legs began to swell,” Rizzo says. “When I got the diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, it was surreal. One minute, I was playing the game I love, and the next, I’m being told I have cancer.”

He had always been the picture of good health, and the diagnosis left him scared and wondering if he would ever play baseball again, he says.

“I was lucky in that I have a great group of friends and family who rallied behind me. I had to be strong for them, especially my parents, since my grandmother was going through cancer treatment around the same time. They gave me the extra strength I needed to beat cancer.”

After six months of chemotherapy, doctors told Rizzo that his cancer was in remission. Although he was grateful to have beaten the disease, he thought of the other young people he’d met who were still fighting cancer.

“I knew how incredibly lucky I was,” he says. “I also knew there were so many other families battling cancer, and they needed help, whether that was emotionally or financially. I wanted to step up and create a foundation that could support them.”

In 2012, Rizzo and his family launched the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation (ARFF), holding events such as a Laugh-Off for Cancer; a Cook-Off for Cancer; and an annual Walk-Off for Cancer, a 5K fundraising walk at Pine Trails Park in Parkland. Last year, it hosted more than 1,300 participants and raised more than $1.2 million. This year’s event, the eighth annual Walk-Off, is slated for Nov. 24.

Rizzo’s battle with cancer showed him how the disease takes a toll on not just the patient but the entire family, he says.

He frequently visits pediatric cancer patients at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital, and donations from ARFF help cover medical expenses for families struggling financially. In 2017, the nonprofit donated $3.5 million to Lurie Children’s Hospital, which went toward building a welcoming waiting room for kids and an endowment that funds two oncology child-life specialists to play with kids and provide pain management. ARFF also pledged $650,000 to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Health System to help teen patients batting cancer and to promote cancer research.

For his work with ARFF – and his extraordinary character and positive contributions both on and off the field – Rizzo received baseball’s top humanitarian honor, the Roberto Clemente Award, in 2017.

“As much as winning the World Series was an amazing lifelong dream, winning the Roberto Clemente Award meant just as much,” Rizzo says. “I’ve created really strong friendships with several patients who were or are undergoing treatment, and these kids and their families are my inspiration.”

Rizzo hopes to expand upon ARFF’s success by taking the nonprofit to the next level in coming years, he says.

“Our ultimate goal is to continue to grow and fundraise more until we can find a cure for cancer. I want to reach more families and help those who need support while their child is undergoing cancer treatment. It’s amazing how fast we have grown since my family and I started the foundation.”

He credits the success of the nonprofit to his wife, Emily; his parents, brother and sister-in-law; his agent, Marc Pollack; ARFF Executive Director Abby Suarez; and countless other family members and friends.

“I want my legacy to live on through my charitable work with my foundation and plan to continue working with my foundation after I am through with baseball,” Rizzo says. “I hope to continue working to find a cure for childhood cancer.”

No Place Like Home

Despite living in Chicago during baseball season, Rizzo still calls South Florida home. Last year, he sold his bachelor pad in Parkland and purchased a new home in Fort Lauderdale, where he and Emily reside in the off-season.

Last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had a profound effect on Rizzo. Not only did he graduate from the school, in 2007, but he also knew family members of several victims as well as Aaron Feis, the coach who died protecting students during the massacre.

“I was at the Cubs spring training facility in Arizona when I heard about the shooting at Douglas, and I just couldn’t believe the news,” Rizzo says. “I walked those same hallways, studied in those classrooms, played on the fields and grew up in that school.”

He knew he had to get home as soon as possible to support his community. 

“I wanted to be there to lift up the community and show the world how strong Parkland can be,” he says. “I’m the person I am today because of the Parkland community, and I’m proud to have grown up there.” 

Rizzo wanted to let community members know that they weren’t alone in their grief and that the country was grieving with them. He visited injured victims at hospitals and homes, offering comfort – and receiving solace – as the city mourned.

“I was truly amazed and impressed by the students and how, only a few hours and days after the shooting, they were taking care of each other. They showed so much strength in the darkest hours in Parkland history,” Rizzo says. “Their courage and determination to make a change and have their voices heard is inspirational. The world marched with them, and I hope the conversation for change continues. 

“We will forever be Parkland Strong.” O

Photos courtesy Chicago Cubs and by Stephen Green Photography, Sheri Whitko, Laura Waitze Zuckerman