Profile of Tony Niglio

Executive Director of PhillyGayCalendar

Tony Niglio hails from Kulpmont (population: 2,985), in the “coal region” of PA. Despite the continuous loop of Loretta Lynn’s 1969 hit “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in my head, I went over Tony’s extensive athletic resume with him, feeling torpid by the end of our salads.

Tony was born into an athletic family with a sports star father and equally able-bodied uncles and cousins. Enlisted to play baseball and basketball at an early age, his enjoyment of various sports wavered throughout childhood. Tony eventually moved on from baseball, a sport that never really excited him, and he discovered football and golf in high school.

At times, the pressure wrought from a lineage of athletic prowess undermined his pure enjoyment of playing. Competition is a great motivator, but for many of us, it turns into a hindrance when self-doubt about our abilities and comparisons of how we match up to others, takes hold. With the choices toward flag football and golf in high school, Tony played to extract the fun each sport had to offer. It was less about personal achievement than it was a relationship-building adventure.

After college, Tony moved to Philadelphia, came out, and started working as a bartender. He wanted an outlet besides bars and clubs to meet gay people so researched gay sports teams in Philly. He found the Falcons soccer club and, though had never played soccer before, joined. His trademark “up for anything new” approach to life paid off: to this day he associates himself with the team and still has friends from when he played.

Along with his lasting ties to the team, a highlight of his tenure on the Falcons was playing in the Gay Games in Chicago in the summer of 2006. Thinking back to the experience, his eyes light up as he declares, “It was awesome!” Never before had he been to such a vast gay event, nor one bursting with so much energy and enthusiasm, especially all focused on athletic competition. The games were welcomes by the entire city and he still keeps in touch with his housing hosts. Tony left with pride in being a gay athlete. And the guys were hot.

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Tony in his Falcons Soccer Uniform

Tony was hopeful that, like in other cities, a gay flag football team would pop up in Philly.  He got his wish earlier this year when the Greater Philadelphia Flag Football League was founded. Emphasis on the fact that he loves playing with the flag football league. It’s served as a good cushion. Tony is single [gratuitous plug, I know] and gay sports teams and leagues provide a social network for anyone, as well as a good distraction for single folks.

After his knee healed from ACL surgery (he tore a meniscus at the Gay Games), Tony turned once again to the internet to locate one of his long-lost loves: mixed martial arts (MMA). He joined Daddis, a MMA school in South Philly, and began practicing Muay Thai, the national sport of Thailand which consists of punching and kicking (sounds like how I fight). The practice of Muay Thai was intense, challenging, and arguably the toughest workout he’s ever had. Taking a break after a year of it, he plans on getting back into Muay Thai when he finds a gym closer to his home in Fishtown.

As a disclosure, Tony is a new friend of mine and it was an absolute pleasure getting together with him one-on-one to talk about being a gay athlete. Before we really got to know each other well, one of the things that impressed me most about him is his apparent enthusiasm to participate in anything challenging and exerting. This past year he rowed for the first time in the Dragon Boat race. An avid runner since college, he’s competed in the Broad Street Run and the ING Philadelphia Distance Run. You can also find him on any given evening or weekend running along Kelly Drive (stalker alert!). He just keeps going.

 

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