Al Bevilacqua, Beat the Streets co-founder, passes away at 85

Brandon Cain
Aug 12
7 min read

Updated: Aug 13

A celebration of life ceremony is planned for this fall in New York City.

Al Bevilacqua - a visionary in wrestling who helped pioneer one of the sport's most impactful youth organizations, Beat the Streets - died Sunday. He was 85 years old.

Bevilacqua devoted more than 50 years to mentoring youth through wrestling. As a BTS founder, he was instrumental in launching more than 100 middle and high school programs across New York City's five boroughs.

A special tribute to Bevilacqua, a larger "Celebration of Life" ceremony, is being planned with the support of USA Wrestling for later this fall in New York City. Details on the ceremony will be shared in the coming weeks.

BTS Executive Director Brendan Buckley

Al was not only a legendary coach and advocate for wrestling – he was instrumental in creating Beat the Streets. Al championed the idea that wrestling can transform lives, and his passion for this mission shaped our early vision and inspired the programs we run today. His legacy lives on in every young athlete who comes through Beat the Streets in New York City and across the country. We are forever grateful for his leadership, passion and belief in the power of wrestling to make a lifelong impact.

BTS Co-Founder and Chair Emeritus Mike Novogratz

I loved Big Al!! Memories of working with him on building BTS make me smile. He loved the energy of our big events because they brought energy to wrestling, and Al loved wrestling!! He served the sport well and now he can look down from heaven and just be a fan.

BTS President Emerita Kyra Tirana Barry

Al was a force of nature: kind, creative and relentless. He definitely wasn’t letting anyone stand in the way of his vision of wrestling for NYC. Just the best. Thousands of kids have Al to thank for getting it all started.

BTS Co-Founder and Former COO Bill Crum

Al and I worked on many projects together, including USA Wrestling State services and events. We were both members of the charter Board of Directors of USA Wrestling. But by far the most important of our collaborations was founding Beat the Streets, which has introduced our great sport to thousands of underserved youth in New York City and now throughout the country. Kids in wrestling are going to miss one of its most energetic champions as well all of us who were lucky enough to be able to call Al a friend.

Services: There are two viewings at the Massapequa Funeral Home located at 4980 Merrick Road, Massapequa, N.Y. on Wednesday, Aug. 13 (2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.). A Catholic Mass will be held at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church located at 2 Bayview Avenue, Massapequa, N.Y. on Thursday, August 14 at 10 a.m. The mass will be livestreamed, with the link made available soon. Following mass, Al will be buried at the Amityville Cemetery located at 56 Harrison Avenue, Amityville, N.Y.

Official obituary provided by the Bevilacqua family

Albert Bevilacqua, Jr.

November 11, 1939 - August 10, 2025

Today we celebrate the life of Albert Bevilacqua, Jr., born November 11, 1939, to Albert Sr. and Vera, passed away after a life devoted to family, faith, and the sport of wrestling. He was preceded in death by his brother Ralph and wife of 61 years, Catherine, and is survived by sisters Elaine and Bonnie; children Christopher (Kristen), Barbara (Joe), Kevin (Elyse), Michael (Stacey), Nora (Ryan), and Erin (Alex); 18 grandchildren; and 2 great-grandchildren.

Al attended New York University (NYU) on a wrestling scholarship and was the first person in his family to graduate college. It was at NYU where he met Catherine, who was also a star member of the track and swim teams. Both were enshrined in the NYU Hall of Fame. Rumor has it that Catherine was the better student and athlete.

Al went on to become a legend in the sport of amateur wrestling, where both he and his oldest son, Chris, were the first father and son to be inducted into the United States Wrestling Hall of Fame at the same time. He coached six Olympic Champions and traveled the world to meet the greatest of the greats in the sport of wrestling.

Al was instrumental in a landmark Supreme Court ruling that allowed Wrestling to break away from the AAU and become what is now known as USA Wrestling, the governing body of the sport in the United States. This decision led to other Olympic sports to follow wrestling’s lead.

Known as ‘Big Al, Mr. Bev, and Coach Bev’, he was a high school Health and Physical Education and Driver’s Education teacher…or as he liked to refer to his profession…he was an educator. He was not only educating kids in the classroom but everywhere in the community, including fields, mats, courts, playgrounds, classrooms and areas beyond! He was known to use science, physics and history when coaching his athletes, and he often said the most important classroom in the building was the Wrestling Room. Wrestling was his vessel and his platform to educate youth on the subject of life.

His heart and compassion was legendary and there were often an extra few kids over for dinner on a regular basis, including a few like Billy Baldwin, who was Big Al’s fourth son, dragging him all over the country to wrestling tournaments and putting him to work at various jobs.

Not only was he widely recognized and a bit of a celebrity himself, he never shied away from mentoring any kid, even if nobody could see it. His whole philosophy was “never give up on a kid.” This was evidenced by the hundreds of emails he received over the years from former students and athletes thanking him for all the help he provided to them and the incredible gratitude they had for him being a cornerstone of their life.

One of his former wrestlers was Ron Kovic, who would later have a major motion picture, Born on the 4th of July, based upon his life as a Vietnam War veteran. It was at this time that the lead actor (Tom Cruise) and the director (Oliver Stone) came to visit Al to try to learn why Al had such an impact on the hero’s life. The director got more than he bargained for when Big Al challenged him on his view of America in the movies he created. For those that know Al, love of his country is unparalleled and was proud to represent the USA on the international stage. Also, his former Massapequa HS student, Jerry Seinfeld, incorporated “Coach Bevilacqua” into an episode of his Emmy award winning Seinfeld show in the 1990’s!

In addition to his being a coach and educator, Al was also a businessman. He referred to his teaching as his “day job” as he had other businesses for over forty years, mostly related to wrestling. Perhaps his proudest and greatest professional achievement, was creation of Beat The Streets Wrestling, which brought wrestling to major inner cities across the United States extolling the benefits of the sport towards creating, high quality, high integrity young athletes in their pursuit of excellence and a means to excel in life. Beat The Streets has gone on to become a powerful force in wrestling around the globe.

His one wish of getting wrestling on TV finally materialized, when his son Chris launched College Sports Television (CSTV) back in the early 2000’s and was able to get Olympic sports like wrestling and volleyball on TV. CSTV is now known as the CBS Sports Network.

Al was always quick to remind everybody that none of this would have happened without the support of his wife Catherine, who allowed him to seek his dreams around the globe. He referred to her as the Head Coach of the family and he was the Assistant Coach. Al & Catherine’s greatest life achievement is their six children and 18 grandchildren.

As parents, they gave their children a Mayberry-like childhood in Massapequa on Long Island with the greatest gifts they could give to their children outside of love and safety…confidence and gratitude. Five of their six children own their own businesses and the sixth, Nora, has the doctoral degree he almost got himself. By any measure, that is a success. Al and Catherine instilled a Puritan work ethic in their family and bestowed on their children that they could do anything they set their minds to if they worked. As a family, they never missed church, no matter where they were in the world, and they always ate dinner as a family.

Al’s legacy will go one for generations passed down by his children to their children and with future generations of kids entering the sport of wrestling through his many endeavors. He also lives on through all the students he impacted over the years.

God, get ready, you are gaining one heck of an assistant coach. He will be missed beyond measure, but thank you for the time you granted him on Earth. He was a good and faithful servant.

We will begin to honor Al this week. There are two viewings at the Massapequa Funeral Home located at 4980 Merrick Road, Massapequa, N.Y. on Wednesday, Aug. 13 (2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.). A Catholic Mass will be held at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, located at 2 Bayview Avenue, Massapequa, N.Y. on Thursday, Aug. 14 at 10 a.m.. The mass will be livestreamed, with the link made available soon. Following mass, Al will be buried at the Amityville Cemetery located at 56 Harrison Avenue, Amityville, N.Y.

Finally, in a special tribute to Big Al, a larger “Celebration of Life” ceremony is being planned with the support of USA Wrestling for later this Fall in the NYC area. We will share those details in the coming weeks.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Al’s name to: