Al Bevilacqua, the real-life coach and teacher who was name-dropped in season 6 of Seinfeld, has died. He was 85.
According to the New York Post, Bevilacqua died on Sunday. The cause of death is not known. But the name is forever synonymous with Seinfeld, after its creator and star, Jerry Seinfeld, name-dropped “Mr. Bevilacqua” in episode 10, season 6 of “The Race.”
Bevilacqua was a longtime wrestling coach at Massapequa High School, where Seinfeld was among one of his students. Bevilacqua got the Seinfeld shout out despite the family telling The Post that he never watched the NBC hit series. Seinfeld fans, however, know the Bevilacqua name all too well from “The Race.”
In the episode, Seinfeld reveals to Elaine Benes he got an illegal head start in a 9th grade race against his nemesis, Duncan Meyer. The race was officiated by the gym teacher, “Mr. Bevilacqua.”
Years later, Seinfeld runs into Duncan, who always suspected Seinfeld cheated by taking off before “Mr. Bevilacqua” blew the whistle. After winning the race by a wide margin, Seinfeld refused to race again. He harped throughout the episode, “I choose not to run!” He eventually relents and agrees to a rematch, with “Mr. Bevilacqua” officiating the race.
But “Mr. Bevilacqua” never pulls the trigger on the starting pistol. Instead, Seinfeld, again, gets an illegal head start thanks to Kramer’s car backfiring at the most inopportune moment, for Duncan, anyway.
In real life, Bevilacqua was Seinfeld’s driver’s ed teacher. The family told The Post that Bevilacqua thought of Seinfeld as “a nice kid.”
When the episode first aired in 1994, one of Bevilacqua’s sons, Kevin, recalled the moment he heard the family name on NBC.
“I was a contractor one time, I was in my bed with plans open, and Seinfeld on in the back, and I go, ‘Did they just say Bevilacqua?’” Kevin told The Post. “Then my phone just started ringing.”
In real life, Bevilacqua was wrestling icon. He wrestled at NYU, where he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame. He went on to coach six Olympic champions in his career. He’d go on to coach wrestling at Hofstra University, and he was even a member of Team USA’s wrestling coaching staff from 1983 to 1991. He also coached the U.S. teams at the Junior World Championships.
In 2022, Bevilacqua was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Related: ‘Seinfeld’ Star’s Dad Sent Long, ‘Disappointed’ Letter After First Episode
Among Bevilacqua’s wrestlers was none other than Born on the Fourth of July author Ron Kovic, whose 1976 memoir was adapted into the 1989 anti-war drama directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Berry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley and Williem Dafoe.
According to The Post, Stone and Cruise paid Bevilacqua’s home a visit to do research for Born on the Fourth of July.
Bevilacqua is survived by his two sisters, six children, 18 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
