Tony Vlahovic Pitches Acceptance for Those with Disabilities

Baseball is life for Tony Vlahovic, and his passion for the sport emanates in his work with the Special Olympics.

His love of baseball began as a boy in the town of Allentown, Pa. While Vlahovic participated in multiple sports throughout high school and college, the American pastime was always his favorite, along with helping others.

“I didn't realize that that passion would someday become I would become a coach of a Special Olympic baseball team,” Vlahovic says.

His quest to form a baseball team began with a conversation. A close friend notified him that the New Jersey Special Olympics team wanted to start a baseball program. 

Vlahovic recalls, “She said ‘I thought of you right away. And I thought with your background of being a professional athlete, and I see the way you've interacted with people with disabilities and how you work with them on a therapy setting, but also just in general, that you'd be a great person for that.”

He began reaching out to different people within his network to get the ball rolling, and the rest is history. With little to no funding, Vlahovic rounded up a group of players and set out to gather equipment. 

Another connection donated 12 wood bats and a tour to watch how they’re made. Vlahovic organized the trip to Norristown, Pa.

 “We took a tour and he made a bat for us. It was one of the most amazing things watching my guys pick up the sawdust from the bat that he was making on a lathe and put it in their pocket,” he recalls. “And they were able to see a bat being made right in front of them. And they absolutely loved it. I mean, it was just a great trip.”

In addition, Vlahovic’s team shared gloves. He contacted different companies to donate the gloves and presented them at practice. 

“What I did was I kept the gloves in a bag. A couple of the guys who were sharing gloves, I gave them a bag with a glove, and they said thank you,” He says. “At the end of practice, they put it back in the bag, and they’re ready to hand it back to me. And I said, ‘that's your glove.’ And they looked at me and there were tears in their eyes. I said it was a gift from a company and they want to donate it. It was amazing to see them have their own glove. And when I talked to a few of the families, they say that a few of them even slept with the glove under their pillow.”

Vlahovic’s persistence led his team to a gold medal win at the 2014 Special Olympics. While the players relished uniforms and equipment were needed to play, the growth and confidence seen in each participant was perhaps the best outcome.

“After we won the gold medal and guys are celebrating, we got a police escort back to the College of New Jersey where we were staying,” he says. “But a couple of the players came up to me in tears and said it was the best day of their life. They've never had any kind of experience like this. They've never won anything. And now they had a gold medal around their neck. And for a lot of them, it really changed their life and how they became a little more confident with things outside of baseball.”

He continues, “Just watching that, taking a step back – it changed my life dramatically as a person who loves baseball, and just as a person watching another individual have that much joy from something.”

The news that the sport would not continue as part of the Special Olympics was devastating, but Vlahovic hopes that garnering enough support from the Major League Baseball, players of all levels  and companies will bring back baseball for those with disabilities.

“The next step is to have people who are dedicated to the game of baseball, and I know there's quite a few of those people around the country, who are teachers and also coaches, to get involved and to help organize the people in their area,” he says. “The grass roots are people from really the little league level, all the way through, up until the pro level taking a little extra time and giving back to people with disabilities and really promoting the game of baseball, even if it's a some type of clinic or a contest like a homerun derby.”

The confidence booster, comradery and team spirit are not the only benefits players with disabilities receive. Acceptance is part of the end game as well, Vlahovic says.

“There's still a misunderstanding that people with disabilities that they can't do these things. I think that they can do a lot more than people give them credit for,” he says. “And I think that once we can open people's eyes with that, I think that would really help change the sport and help change the quality of life of a lot of these athletes male and female.”

He concludes, “I see how much they love it; I see how much they enjoy it. And I know that there's other people out there who would feel the same way just to have an opportunity to play.”