Anthony Rizzo (yes, that Anthony Rizzo, the heartbeat of the 2016 Cubs, the guy who once stared down Madison Bumgarner in the World Series) stood beside his wife Emily Vakos-Rizzo, both in jeans and Cubs hoodies, handing out the 1,500th bicycle like it was the final out of Game 7.
Only this time the victory was sweeter.
The Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, now in its 13th year, partnered with World Bicycle Relief and the Chicago Public Schools to identify 1,500 elementary and middle-school students in Englewood, Austin, and North Lawndale who either walked more than a mile to school or relied on unreliable CTA routes. Each kid got a brand-new, buffalo-plaid Buffalo Bike (built for Chicago potholes and winter salt), a helmet, a lock, and a maintenance class taught by Rizzo himself wearing a backwards cap and a grease smudge on his cheek like he never left the clubhouse.
One eighth-grader from Beasley Academic Center summed it up in four words when she hugged Emily:
“This beats any trophy.”
Rizzo, now 36 and in his second season with the Yankees, has never really left Chicago. The foundation has quietly pumped more than $12 million into pediatric cancer research and family assistance since 2012, but this bike giveaway felt different, personal.
“Emily and I drove these same neighborhoods when we were first dating,” Rizzo told the crowd, voice cracking just enough to remind everyone he’s still the same South Florida kid who battled cancer at 18. “We saw kids walking two miles in the snow just to get to class. If a bike can give them 30 extra minutes of sleep, 30 minutes less worry for their parents… man, that’s worth more than any ring.”
Emily, a University of Miami grad who’s been the quiet engine behind the foundation’s growth, knelt next to a shy second-grader struggling with his helmet strap.
“You’re in charge of this bike now,” she whispered. “It’s yours forever. Take care of it, and it’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
The statistics are staggering on paper, but they come alive when you see them:
• 1,500 bikes = roughly 750,000 miles ridden to school over the next four years.
• 1,200 of the recipients are from households earning less than $35,000 a year.
• 68% previously missed at least six school days per semester because of transportation issues.
CPS superintendent Pedro Martinez was on hand and didn’t bother hiding the tears.
“This isn’t charity,” he told reporters. “This is equity on two wheels.”
Even the usually stoic Jon Lester (who flew in from Georgia just for the event) got choked up watching a little girl in a Rizzo jersey do her first wobbly lap around the parking lot.
“That’s the guy I played with,” Lester said, pointing at Anthony high-fiving kids like he’d just hit a walk-off. “Same heart, bigger stage now.”
By noon the lot looked like the Tour de South Side: kids weaving figure-eights, parents snapping photos, volunteers in Rizzo Foundation shirts shouting “Watch the curb!” And in the middle of it all stood Anthony and Emily, exhausted, covered in chain grease, and grinning like they’d just won the World Series all over again.
Because in a way, they had.
One bike at a time, one smile at a time, the Rizzos reminded Chicago what 2016 was really about: not the trophy, but the together.
And somewhere in the city tonight, 1,500 kids are falling asleep dreaming about tomorrow’s ride to school, knowing someone out there believes they’re worth the ride.
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