Jacqueline DiLorenzo
2005
Jackie became disabled as a result of polio as a child, but alongside her lifelong best friend, Ruth Rosenbaum, another Hall of Fame recipient, she became involved in wheelchair sports in the 1970’s. Before wheelchair sports, Jackie and Ruth were high school cheerleaders together.
Jackie began competing nationally in track & field and slalom events in 1973. She showed excellent potential in athletics but ultimately chose to focus her efforts on the sport of table tennis. Jackie was first selected to a USA National team in 1982 for the World Table Tennis Championships in Stoke Mandeville, England. From that point on, she was selected to every World Championship, Pan American, and Paralympics for the USA Table Tennis teams.
Jackie won a Paralympic gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games in the Class 3–5 Women’s team event. In the 1999 Para Pan Am Games in Mexico City, she won a gold medal in the Class 1–3 Women’s team event with her childhood friend, Ruth, as well as a silver in Class 1–2 singles. Additionally, she won a silver medal in the US Open Table Tennis Championships in 1999 and a bronze in the 2000 Irish Table Tennis Open in Class singles. In 2000, she was world-ranked 5th in her class in table tennis. Jackie ended her international competition at the ParaPan Table Tennis Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2003.
Jackie had many interests and skills outside of table tennis. She started and performed in her own professional wheelchair dance production company and acted in movies and television with celebrities like Harrison Ford and Penny Marshall. In addition to competing at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games, Jackie choreographed and performed in the Opening Ceremonies dance production.
She was a board member of the American Wheelchair Table Tennis Association and was one of their most effective promotional people. She secured funding and implemented a promotional video for the wheelchair version of “Ping Pong Diplomacy” to China. She promoted table tennis more effectively than any public relations agency could, getting all the major NYC news stations to cover the very first international wheelchair table tennis event held in the US in Montclair, NJ. Jackie also served on the board for disability advocacy agencies in New York.
Jackie married Phil Dilorenzo, a USA Paralympic official and coach, in 1965. She always had a perpetual smile and was a star both on and off of the table.