The New York State Council of Italian-American Legislators gave famous sitcom start Tony Danza the Italian-American of Distinction Award. He earned this award for doing hard work in the Philadelphia community. From 2009 to 2010, the Who’s The Boss star spent one year teaching in an inner city high school in Philadelphia.
Winning such an award, he relates the accomplishment to his father. He knows his dad would be proud of him because his father was a big believer in trying to be a good American.
“My father would be really proud of the Italian part, but also the American end of it. He used to talk about America as being a team. My father was a big believer in trying to be a good American,” said Danza, reported by Newsday.
When speaking about the award, he was very happy to be receiving it, and he even made a joke about Italian-Americans. His humor and joyful smile was on full display.
"You can be an Italian-American but you can't be an Italian-Russian or an Italian-Swede or an Italian-Frenchman, only in America," said Danza, documented by WNYT.
He recorded his involvements of his work in Philadelphia for the reality TV show Teach and in his book, “I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had.” According to Newsday, Danza says he still returns to Philadelphia to assist with fundraisers.