Steve Serio
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Steven Dillon Serio (born September 8, 1987) is a wheelchair basketball player. As a co-captain of the USA Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team, he led the American men to their first Paralympic gold medal since 1988 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games[1] and defended the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.[2] He currently plays for the New York Rolling Knicks in the NWBA Championship Division.[3]
Biography
[edit | edit source]Serio grew up in Westbury, New York and graduated from Carle Place High School in 2005. When he was 11 months old, he had surgery to remove a spinal tumor, resulting in the compression of his spinal cord. Consequently, he was left paralyzed and is classified as an incomplete paraplegic.[4]
Serio began his wheelchair basketball career as a sophomore in high school with the Long Island Lightning, the only competitive junior wheelchair basketball team in New York State.[5] He became a tremendous asset to this team, eventually leading to its first National Championship in 2005. Serio himself was named the tournament's Most Valued Player.[6] That same year, Serio played on a USA U-23 Team participating at the Australian Junior National Games for the Disabled in Sydney.[6]
Serio also played point guard for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was named a 2nd Team's All-American in both the 2005–6 and 2006–7 seasons at Illinois.[7] At the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament held at Oklahoma State University on March 15, 2008, Serio led the Illinois to a NIWBA Championship over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.[8] Serio took home the Championship Game Player of the Game, NWBA Tournament MVP, and the NWBA 31st NIWBT Player of the Year.[9] Serio graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2010 with a degree in kinesiology.
He also plays on the U.S. Paralympics Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team, which came in second place at the World Championships in Amsterdam in the summer of 2006.[10] In the summer of 2007, the U.S. National Team won a gold medal at the Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Serio made his Paralympic debut with the U.S. National Team in 2008 in Beijing.[11] The team finished in fourth place, just missing a medal. Since that disappointing Paralympics, the U.S. National Team has taken the gold medal at the 2009 America's Cup in Richmond, Canada[12] and finished third at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, England.[13]
Serio is a co-captain of the USA Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team. He led the American men to their first Paralympic gold medal since 1988 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games.[1] and defended the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.[2]
Serio has lived in Germany and played for RSV Lahn-Dill. His contract was extended through the 2016 season.[14] He currently plays for the New York Rolling Knicks in the NWBA Championship Division.[3]
Along with sitting volleyball player Nicky Nieves, Serio served as one of two flag bearers for Team USA at the 2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony in Paris.[15]
Major achievements
[edit | edit source]Juniors
[edit | edit source]- 2005: First place - Junior National Wheelchair Basketball Championships
- 2005: Tournament MVP - Junior National Wheelchair Basketball Championships
- 2005: Gold medal - World Junior Basketball Championships
Intercollegiate
[edit | edit source]- 2008: National Champion - U.S. Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball
- 2008: MVP - NWBA College Division
US National Team
[edit | edit source]- 2006: Silver medal - IWBF Gold Cup (World Championships), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 2007: Gold medal - Parapan American Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2008: Fourth place - Paralympic Games, Beijing, China
- 2008: First place - North American Cup, Birmingham, Alabama
- 2009: First place - America's Cup, Richmond, BC, Canada
- 2010: Third place - Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, Birmingham, England, UK
- 2012: Bronze Medal - Paralympic Games, London, UK
- 2016: Gold Medal - Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2021: Gold Medal - 2020 Summer Paralympics, Tokyo, Japan
Professional
[edit | edit source]- 2011: German DRS Cup Champion
- 2011: German Championship
- 2011: IWBF Champions League Silver Medal
- 2012: German DRS Cup Champion
- 2012: German Championship
- 2021: IWBF Champions Cup Champion[16]
Notes
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- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).[dead link]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Steve Serio at Team USA (archive June 23, 2023)Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Steve Serio at the International Paralympic Committee Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). (2008, 2016)
- Steven Serio at the International Paralympic Committee Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). (2012)
- Steve Serio at the U.S. Paralympic Team at the Wayback Machine (archived August 2, 2008)
- 1987 births
- Living people
- American men's wheelchair basketball players
- Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for the United States
- Paralympic gold medalists for the United States
- Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States
- Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2024 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2023 Parapan American Games
- Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games
- Illinois Fighting Illini Paralympic athletes
- Sportspeople from Westbury, New York
- People with paraplegia
- Basketball players from Nassau County, New York
- American expatriate basketball people in Germany
- 21st-century American sportsmen
- Parapan American Games medalists in wheelchair basketball
- Parapan American Games gold medalists for the United States