VERMONT SPORTS HALL OF FAME

(Courtesy: Bob Molinatti)

Colchester

Para-Athlete

Inducted 2023

Robert "Bob" Molinatti, who attended school in Colchester and Essex, became a noteworthy para-athlete, winning major marathons and competing in the 1988 and 1996 Paralympics after he sustained a spinal cord injury in an automobile accident while serving in the U.S. Army. He is the first para-athlete to be inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame.

During his 43 years in a wheelchair, Molinatti built careers as both an athlete and in sports broadcast journalism.

He competed in both cross country and track at Essex High and headed back to Colchester when the town opened its own high school before his senior year in 1975.   

Molinatti opted for the military, serving from 1976 to 1978, and the accident in the Army changed many plans.  After his honorable discharge and major rehab, he briefly attended UVM before moving to California. 

As a para-athlete who was paralyzed from the waist down, he won the Los Angeles Marathon in 1986 and 1988, and represented the US 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, finishing fourth in the marathon.  He also raced in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He raced in eight Boston Marathons, finishing as high as fourth.  He also raced in more than 50 marathons worldwide and more than 100 races from 1985-2001.  He consistently made the podium racing against many world class fields. 

Among his top marathons was the 1991 Vermont City Marathon in which he won in a record time that still stands as the second best in race history.  Molinatti maintains he came full circle with the race support he received when he returned home.

Molinatti co-hosted ESPN's ‘Breakaway’ and then ‘In Pursuit,’ a first of its kind TV show highlighting a wide variety of disabled sports and athletes from 1992 to 1998. He worked as a freelancer doing color commentary including NBC in both LA and New York City, Fox in Atlanta and ABC in Boston.  He also announced and worked for various broadcast teams for four Paralympics from 1996 to 2012.