THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: April 23, 2014
There's only a few people with a mind for the game of baseball like Tony Bevacqua.
From coaching college kids to grooming others into eventual Division I players, his knowledge for the game is almost unmatched in this area.
BEVACQUA PASSED away April 15 in Portland, Ore. He was 74 years old. While visiting family in the Portland area, Tony fell ill and was later diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer.
"Philosophically, he knew baseball and was one of the top five guys in Coeur d'Alene in the sport," former North Idaho College baseball coach Jack Bloxom said. "He knew baseball and the basic things that made players successful and it's not what a lot of coaches these days are doing. He'd tell the kids you've got to be comfortable at the plate, so you're quicker with your hands. Coaches now have players close their stance. He was just from the old school, and the kids just loved him. He didn't have a degree in baseball, but knew more about the sport than anyone I know."
Bevacqua was an assistant baseball coach for Bloxom in his final four years as coach at NIC before retiring in 1997. One of Tony's three sons, Al, played at NIC, and later coached the Lake City High and Prairie American Legion teams.
"He'd sit with players on bus trips and ask them what their philosophy was," Bloxom said. "90 percent of the kids we'd get are from the Northwest, so they were people that knew you had to shovel snow off the field if you wanted to play. As far as hitting, Tony was a perfectionist, but he was from the old school. He built and put up an 80-foot batting tunnel, not just for his sons, but his friends so they could learn and practice and he'd run the pitching machine for them."
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Following games at NIC, Tony often times was seen throwing to his 5-year old grandson Mitch, son of Tony. Mitch is now a freshman redshirting at the University of Washington this spring.
"When I was coaching and Mitch was 5, he had the biggest Wiffle ball bat he could find," Bloxom said. "I thought at that time there's no way he'd be an athlete, and then he's all-league in football and baseball and it just blew my mind how he did it. But Tony would have thrown that ball to him all day if he could have."
Bloxom added that he never heard Tony raise his voice to a player.
"What he was is what he was," Bloxom said. "He was in love with the game and never raised his voice. He might have said 'God(darnit), bear down,' but he definitely helped me coached a baseball team."
WHEN BLOXOM retired, Bevacqua hung around to assist Paul Manzardo when he took over the NIC baseball program.
"He was a real great man," Manzardo said. "He taught me a lot about the game of baseball and I appreciated the time and friendship we made. He had a great baseball mind and was so good to the kids in the community and gave so much of himself. He always had a smile on his face and was happy to see you. He just loved being at the baseball field. When I think of baseball, I think of Tony Bevacqua, because he was a joy to be around."
And that's exactly what you got off the field as well.
"When you'd see him on the field, he was laughing and joking around," Manzardo said. "He'd always ask how (Manzardo's sons) Kyle and Marcus were doing and what was going on. He was just a caring and loving man. How he displayed it on the field was how he was off the field, not only to his family, but how he was to everyone. If he said he was going to do something, he did it. He was a great man off the field and the type of person where if you went to his house, it would be like going to the Golden Corral."
"Tony Sr. touched a lot of lives," Manzardo said. "He had a great baseball mind. When I took over the baseball program in 1998, Tony was a key part in helping me those years. He was a great mentor and just an all-around good guy."
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.