Springdale High School grad, actor John Siciliano overcomes obstacles with healthy dose of courage

John Siciliano played the role of the Cowardly Lion in the “The Wizard of Oz” as a senior year at Springdale High School in 1989.

As president of student council that year, he was invited to speak at commencement.

The theme of his speech was courage. “Little did I realize that role would be so pivotal in my life, trying to find courage in the midst of darkness.”

It would be a fitting talk of what was to come for Siciliano.

He would need that dose of courage to overcome losing his right leg above the knee in a serious car accident. But overcome he did to go on to become a Paralympian and an actor.

“Now that I am more mature and just taking it all in, I realize it took courage to get to where I am today,” says Siciliano, who returned to that very high school stage to address seventh- and eighth-graders at the end-of-the-year awards assembly.

A real darkness

It was a summer June night in 1993.

Siciliano and friends were celebrating the end of the college year and after a day at the Boyce Park Wave Pool were on their way to Eat'n Park in Squirrel Hill known as “the place for smiles,” he says.

“All of a sudden ... BAM!” he says. “I looked up and saw I was on the ground, outside the Jeep, and I tried to get up, but I couldn't.”

Siciliano had to have his leg amputated above the knee. He refused to let his prosthetic leg stop him from chasing after other things in life — both on the track and in front of the camera.

His disability most recently helped him earn a recurring role on the popular CBS drama series “Bull.”

His path to acting started after he wrote a play about his life called “Siciliano.” It debuted off-Broadway in New York City and recounted the challenges of losing his leg, as well as the guidance he received from his mentor Todd Schaffhauser, an above-the-knee amputee Paralympian. Siciliano fell at his first trials for the Paralympics and had one last chance to make the team in 1996. During the race, he felt his leg coming loose, but was able to finish first to compete at the games in Atlanta for Team USA and break the 200 meter record.

After the off-Broadway play's run was completed, Siciliano returned to finish his degree at the University of Southern California. He got to attend that college because of a Swim With Mike scholarship, which provides financial resources for advanced education to physically challenged athletes.

It was in California where he was cast in his first television show, NBC's “ER.” His resume includes guest spots on “The Young and the Restless,” “NCIS,” “Grey's Anatomy,” “Scrubs” and “Blue Bloods” and the role of Pokey the Pirate in “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.”

Siciliano is on the diversity committee for the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, a union for professionals in the entertainment industry.

He credits Hanger Clinic: Prosthetics and Orthotics on Pittsburgh's South Side with helping him acquire the best prosthetics.

“Not everyone can identify with losing a leg, but everyone can identify with loss, and through that journey of loss,” Siciliano says. “You learn to live with the loss and move forward.”

Facing challenges

There are challenges for everyone in life, Siciliano says, and when you are faced with such obstacles you can do one of two things – give up or get up, which is what he did, albeit on a prosthetic leg, so it wasn't that easy to pick himself back up.

“I was able to dig deep, and I had the best support team,” he says. “I learned you can't do anything by yourself. That is why Springdale is and will always be special to me. It's a special place because the people in this community have always been there for me.” When Siciliano stepped back on that stage there were tears and some nostalgia thinking back to the way things were.

“I got a lot of feedback from parents who I went to school with whose children were in the auditorium that day and their kids talked about my speech,” he says. “I became dinner conversation and that makes me feel good. I tried to impress upon them that quit is not in my vocabulary.”

At the assembly on the program there is a quote from Abraham Lincoln that reads “I say try. If we never try, we shall never succeed.”

He inspired eighth-grader Marie Carey. “He was relatable to the kids, and he talked about how when things happen you have to be strong,” she says. “He was cool. He talked about finishing a race on one leg. And he isn't afraid to tell his story.”

Sharing history

Now, he wants to share his story.

Currently living in Mt. Washington, Siciliano continues to connect with people in Pittsburgh, including spending the afternoon on June 15 at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in Lawrenceville with a young girl who is an amputee. On June 12, he came to Health South Sewickley to talk to other amputees who followed a similar road to recovery.

The talk was set up by Scott Bleakley, physical therapist and director of rehabilitation services for Health South, who has followed Siciliano's progress from not being able to walk to running to not focusing on the disability. “John is such a dynamic speaker,” Bleakley says. “He has such a strong story and is so gifted at telling it. His amputation is part of his story — not who he is. He is an amazing actor, and the amputation has become second nature to him. I watched him giving this talk running back and forth among wires and wheelchairs and he maneuvered around it all with such courage.”

Just like that lion we all remember at the end of the “The Wizard of Oz.”

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-853-5062 or jharrop@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Jharrop_Trib.