Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame
The Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame is replete with multi-sport athletes and adds another this year in Amy Calderone-Blommer. From 1997-2001, Calderone competed in volleyball and track & field for Augustana. Actually, competed would be an understatement. She excelled, earning All-CCIW recognition three times in volleyball as well as three conference titles and All-America honors in track & field. In addition, she held school records in both sports at the time of her graduation.
After graduating from Sherrard High School in 1997, Calderone, a native of Matherville, Illinois, enrolled at Augustana and immediately made an impact with Coach Liesl Fowler’s volleyball program. The 5’ 10” middle hitter ranked fourth on the team with 187 kills and added 146 digs for a Viking outfit that finished 20-16, including 5-2 and tied for first in the CCIW. Then, in the spring of her freshman year, she set a school record in the javelin (133’ 4”) for Coaches Fred Whiteside and Ron Standley in the Augustana track & field program.
As a sophomore, Calderone was third on the team in both kills (290) and digs (327) for another 20-win Viking volleyball squad and was named All-CCIW honorable mention. Transitioning to track, she recorded team bests in the pole vault indoors and javelin, pole vault and heptathlon outdoors.
During her junior year of 1999-2000, Calderon was a second team All-CCIW selection on the volleyball court, leading the 21-16 Vikings with 465 kills and 566 digs. In addition to her field events, she ran on Augustana’s 4x400 and distance medley relays indoors. She was team MVP in the outdoor season and captured her first CCIW championship, winning the javelin with a toss of 136’ 10”. She went on to All-America recognition with an eighth-place finish at the national meet. She also qualified for nationals in the heptathlon, finishing 13th.
That set the stage for a tremendous senior year. The team MVP in volleyball, she recorded 334 kills and 491 digs, setting Augustana career records in both categories. She earned first team All-CCIW honors as Fowler’s Vikings went 24-10, setting a school record for victories in a season. In the spring, Calderone was a double winner at the 2001 CCIW Outdoor Track & Field Championships, repeating as javelin champion with a throw of 140’ 10” and also claiming the heptathlon title with 4,321 points. For good measure, she finished seventh in the shot with a mark of 36’ 9½”. The Vikings’ Co-MVP and captain again qualified for nationals in the javelin and heptathlon.
When she finished her respective careers, Calderone held all-time Augustana records for kills (1,276) and digs (1,530) in volleyball and the javelin (142’ 1”) in track & field. Although the volleyball records have since fallen—currently ranking fifth and fourth all-time, respectively—her mark in the javelin still stands. Her best of 4,321 points in the heptathlon is still third best in school history.
Calderon graduated from Augustana in 2001 with degrees in speech communications and Spanish. She received her master’s in communication studies from Northern Illinois University and went on to a career in sports broadcasting.
She got her start as the weekend sports anchor at WIFR-TV in Rockford, Illinois. Calderone then moved to San Jose, California station KBCW, where she hosted Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area, a weekly hour-long show which focused on high school sports and for which she earned a regional Emmy Award. She returned to the Quad-Cities in 2009 as a sports anchor at WQAD-TV in Moline, Illinois. There, she worked as a reporter, photographer and finally, as the station’s Sports Director. She is now self-employed, owning her own film and photography business.
After moving around so much, Amy is “looking forward to putting down some roots in the Quad-Cities.” She currently lives in Coal Valley, Illinois with her husband, Nate and children, Cyan and Jack. Of her Augustana years, she said, “I haven’t met many better people than the ones I met, worked with and was coached by at Augustana. I’m extremely thankful for the opportunities I have had in my life, many of those through people and experiences at Augie. Great memories and fantastic coaches, but two of the very best are Liesl Fowler and Ron Standley.”
