15
Today Fazio is the Manatee County
Director for Special Olympics Florida,
as well as the Training Director for Area
ine, of which Manatee County is a
part. She still coaches her daughter’s
bocce and bowling teams (Melissa
also plays basketball and swims for the
organization.
“She is very dedicated and she takes her
responsibilities very seriously,” Merchant
said of Fazio.
Special Olympics Florida provides yearround
sports training and competition to
children and adults with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. Athletes must
be at least eight. They compete at county,
area, state and national levels, and there
is no cost to participate.
As director, Fazio oversees all the sports
offered: track and field, basketball,
bocce, bowling, cycling, equestrian,
flag football, golf, soccer, softball,
stand-up paddle, swimming, tennis and
volleyball. She also runs the business
end of an organization that’s made up
entirely of volunteers, some 120 of them.
She’s in charge of nding, and keeping,
volunteers who are dedicated to and
passionate about the organization.
She’s also charged with obtaining and
maintaining the donations that are the
lifeblood of the Special Olympics.
During her time with the Special Olympics,
Merchant also got to know Sue Fitzgerald,
who served in Fazio’s role as County
Director from 2005 to 2017. In 2017,
Fitzgerald and Fazio essentially switched
jobs, with Fitzgerald taking over the
administrative assistant post from Fazio.
In all, Fitzgerald has been involved with
the Special Olympics for more than 0
years. In fact, she will soon be inducted
into the organization’s hall of fame.
“She has done so much over so many
years,” Merchant said of Fitzgerald,
noting that the athletes gave Fitzgerald
the nickname “Mama Sue.” “Like Pam,
she’s also extremely hard-working, honest
and lovely,” Merchant said. “Just another
really good person.”
While Fazio and Fitzgerald are the
organization’s tireless leaders, they work
entirely for free. Even though they don’t
earn paychecks, they are nonetheless
rewarded for their hard work. “The
athletes, they’re family,” said Fitzgerald,
of the more than 300 athletes that are in
her jurisdiction. “They’re like my kids. To
see them progress, and to see the joy they
get out of it, and the joy they give you, is
just amazing.”
Fitzgerald said she has watched Special
Olympics Florida evolve since its
beginnings in the 1970s. Today, it not
only focuses on athletic training and
competition, Special Olympics is the
leading voice in raising awareness of
the abilities of people with intellectual
disabilities.
It’s also the world’s largest public health
organization for people with intellectual
disabilities. Its Athlete Leadership
program allows athletes the opportunity
to serve on the board of directors or
a local organizing committee, or to
be a spokesperson, team captain,
coach or official. It’s Young Athletes
program for kids ages two to seven is an
innovative sports play program designed
to introduce these youngsters to the world
of sports.
For Fazio, the organization has been near
and dear to her heart since her daughter
became a Special Olympics athlete. “I
fell in love with it, with the program and
the athletes,” she said. “And the rest is
history.” Together, she and Fitzgerald
work 2/7, Fazio said, and they love
working together. “We’ve been a team for
20 years,” she said.