It is the picture of perseverance. 

Bobby Colantonio. His arms outstretched above his head. His hands covered in blood and wrapped in athletic tape. His mouth creased into a smile. And tears welling in his eyes. 

Behind that picture is a story of heartbreak and challenges, hard work and relentlessness, faith and vindication.

Behind that picture, or maybe everything lead up to that picture, is Colantonio’s journey from the throwing circle on Upland Way, to a frightening cancer diagnosis and months of treatment, and finally… finally to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. That’s where Barrington native and BHS graduate Bobby Colantonio won the national title with a throw of 23.60 meters.

NCAA champion for life. 

“This has to be my biggest accomplishment to date,” Colantonio said. “And not because of the title of NCAA Champion but all that I have overcome to put myself in this point, never mind winning the whole thing. When I was diagnosed with cancer I had every intention of returning to the sport in some capacity disregarding the ‘reality’ of the diagnosis. To stand up on that podium was surreal. After all the blood, sweat, and tears it was so worth it for that feeling.”

Where it started

As a freshman at Barrington High School, Colantonio was already showing glimpses of greatness. 

By the time he was a sophomore, he won the state outdoor track championship in the hammer, out-distancing junior standout and teammate Adam Kelly by two feet. Kelly and Colantonio continued to push each other, in practices and at meets — in 2015, Kelly and Colantonio finished one, two at the high school national championships. 

By the time he was a senior at Barrington High School, Colantonio was crushing the competition and piling up championships. He committed to the University of Alabama and seemed poised to continue his dominance at the collegiate level. 

But during a physical examination at the University of Alabama in August 2016, doctors found a tumor on his femur — it was cancer and experts said it had already spread to his hip and lungs. The news crushed Colantonio. “At first I felt like I was hit in the head with a baseball bat,” he said during a previous interview. 

The diagnosis was gut-wrenching. The doctors spoke about amputating his leg, but after 12 weeks of treatment, the re-scans showed that the cancer had regressed. His medical team offered him the option of radiation therapy, which would save his leg. 

Colantonio said the prognosis was a sign from God — he was not done throwing. But the road back to competition was a long one and loaded with challenges. Colantonio had lost a lot of weight during his treatments and his muscles were weak, atrophied from the chemotherapy and radiation. The athlete who had once thrown the 12-pound hammer 240 feet at the high school national championship could barely lift the bar in the weight room. 

Slowly and steadily Colantonio worked himself back into shape, and by Jan. 11, 2019, he had returned to competition. It was that month when he recorded a throw of 21.2 meters at the Bob Pollock Invitational meet and became the top-ranked freshman weight thrower in college track and field in the U.S.

More set-backs

Colantonio’s return has faced other challenges. 

In 2020 the NCAA canceled the track championships because of Covid. And in 2021, as Colantonio prepared for the indoor track season, he suffered a complete tear of an abdominal muscle. 

“I had to take six weeks off from everything,” he said. 

After healing, he returned to the throwing circle but three days before the NCAAs, he came down with a case of vertigo. 

“I would begin my turns and would fall over from getting way too dizzy from the vertigo,” he said. “If I laid down in bed or even looked down my whole head would spin and didn’t stop. I had to drop a turn within my throwing technique and throw three turns versus four turns to be able to finish a throw.”

This year, as he prepared for the SEC (Southeastern Conference) Championship, Colantonio broke his pinky toe. He pushed through the pain, won the SEC title and then captured the NCAA championship. 

“No one sees the downs of being an athlete. We are surrounded by social media which is just a ‘highlight reel’ if you ask me. No one posts about the lows of training and the failures. I’ve experienced ‘failure’ after ‘failure,’ upsets, and setbacks,” he said.

“The only thing I can say is perseverance. Never ever letting anything that sets you back get in between you and your goals. Control what you can control and move on. So yes, when I had the meet won going into the sixth and final round throw I was crying in the ring as I threw. When the implement landed, all I wanted to do was run to the stands to give my dad a hug. And that I did. There were plenty of pictures of me crying and hugging my dad. An experience I dreamed of for years and have come so close but was yet so far. And now I finally did it. NCAA champion for life.”

Colantonio said his faith continues to be the key — “That always comes first to me, believing in His plan.”

He also believes in himself, in his abilities. He said that “swagger” or “mojo” is important, the feeling that no matter what happens on the playing field, he is the best out there. 

“Win or lose I never lose sight of that,” Colantonio said. 

And failure is part of it also.

“The acceptance of failure and having no fear of failure. Where there is doubt there is fear and where there is fear there is doubt. We will fail and continue to fail, that’s what makes us human,” he said. “Realizing that takes away all the pressure. And then as far as how to execute during competition, it comes down to focusing on what you need to do — your cues and what you need to do are all that matter. Don’t look at other distances and what other people are doing or how far you want to throw or accomplish. The ball will land, it will be marked, and you will be placed accordingly. That stuff doesn’t change. Focus on you and not the result. I’ve caught myself many times going to a meet focusing on the result and not myself and what I need to do. In the end the result will be there. Control what you can control.”

No more texts

The weight-throwing world lost a legend earlier this year when longtime Barrington High School coach Bob Gourley passed away. 

The loss hit Colantonio hard, and continues to reverberate.

“The hardest part is not getting the ‘good luck’ texts or the ‘good job’ texts before and after every meet I competed in,” Colantonio said. “Even some of the smaller meets I competed in he still knew. He always sent me words of wisdom and other remarks to make me laugh. He’s what coaching is truly about.”

Colantonio said Coach Gourley created an environment that allowed weight throwers to push themselves and success. 

“The biggest thing was always practicing and competing with the best in the country. Most people don't feel that feeling until the big meet when all the best are there. But training in that environment that Coach Gourley built was incredible. Whenever I went to a big meet I was used to being around other good throwers and didn’t add excess stress for no reason,” Colantonio said. 

He said Coach Gourley even supplied different hammers for the throwers to use. 

“This was something he built on his own with his own money and never got anything in return,” Colantonio said. “It was for the love of the sport and mentorship. He was an incredible man and someone I was blessed to know as a friend, coach, and mentor.”