Dylan Provenzano ’27 recognized by American Legion
When Dylan Provenzano ’27 stood before 10,000 attendees at the national American Legion convention in New Orleans, they heard an accomplished young man share his motto, first coined by Babe Ruth: “You just can’t stop a person who never gives up.”
The American Legion, an organization that supports veterans and service members, sponsors an extremely popular amateur athletic league. American Legion Baseball has more than 5,400 teams across all 50 states.
The summer before starting at Carthage, Dylan played first base for his local American Legion (Post 158) team, which won the 2023 state title for his hometown of Barrington, Illinois. Now, he brings his passion for the sport to Firebirds baseball.
Carthage head coach Augie Schmidt said that, for a young player in the baseball program, Dylan’s “work ethic, determination, and passion for the game have been his biggest assets. He is one of those kids you find yourself rooting for within our program.”
“There is no doubt he will be successful at whatever he decides to do in life,” Coach Schmidt continued. “He won’t accept anything less!”
Dylan is the first in his family to attend college. To recognize his academic achievement, the American Legion named Dylan an All-Academic Team Captain and awarded him a $5,000 scholarship.
The sophomore allied health science major said, “I have a career goal of becoming a physical therapist to help give back to those who helped me when I was younger.”
Giving back is already second nature to Dylan. As a two-time cancer survivor himself, he has dedicated time and energy to supporting others facing cancer.
Since undergoing cancer treatment, he has raised significant financial donations to support patients on the oncology floors at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
He serves on Lurie Children’s Hospital’s Patient Advisory Board, sharing a patient’s perspective with hospital staff to improve care. Also, he has raised money for research and to support families paying the bills that build up when a child undergoes cancer treatment.
Hospital staff selected Dylan to be part of a group of patients to speak at a Global Health Summit in Lyon, France. Through experiences like that, he has gained plenty of experience in public speaking — but never in front of a crowd the size of the American Legion’s convention in August.
“I have spoken in front of hundreds, possibly a thousand, but 10,000 people… you can’t quite comprehend when you’re on the stage talking to all those people,” he said.
What will stick with him is meeting Legion members from Illinois and learning more about the work that Legion members do to support veterans and the mental health of current military members.
As Dylan continues his journey at Carthage, both on and off the baseball field, his perseverance for never giving up and always giving back remains unwavering and serves as an inspiration for the campus community.
Watch a video of Dylan’s speech at the convention