Michael Salvatore Bevilacqua left us way too early, at the age of just 16 in August of the year 2000. For those of us who knew and love him, it has been hard to find a place to go where we can ‘find’ him today. Is it the ball fields at Shoup Park, Calabasas High, or the old neighborhoods where we grew up? Although he was only with us for just over sixteen years, he lived a full life for a young man and inspired many of us to be better, to be more creative, and take more risks. At least he did that for me. He was my little brother but I found myself looking up to him more and more as we got older. I could only imagine where he would be today if he were still with us. I have dreams with him all of the time where I’m usually looking for ways to spend more time with him in that space, but it never lasts and I wake with just my memories of him. Michael was a kid, and we were kids together. With my sisters, our parents, we made memories together. And he made many memories with the many friends he made. I remember him for so many things, for his mischievous smile, his natural athletic ability, his dry and creative humor, his laugh, his lanky frame, his love for baseball star Ken Griffey Jr. his adventurous teen years, and his sharp intellect. You may remember him for that and a whole lot more too. This site is for all of us who knew and loved him and want to relive some of those memories.
-Anthony Bevilacqua
Gallery
Sharing Memories
If you have a story or just a thought about Michael that you’d like to share here, please contact me using the form below or email me at oneoakgraphics@gmail.com. Thank you.
I will never forget the time we were playing touch football on the St Mels campus one weekend afternoon. He had gotten himself thrown out of our little pick up game for losing his cool after a play or call didn’t go his way. But after a short timeout Dave, the adult running out little game let him back in. His team was down and needed a score. Soon after Michael was let back in the game he ran for a hail Mary pass, caught it, and ran to the end zone with that mischievous smile on his face the whole way. His team won, the game was over, and there he was laughing and trying to catch his breath. We couldn’t believe it, one second he was out of the game, and the next he was the champion. That to me sums up his ride through this world, he somehow lived on the edge but always landed on his feet.
-Anthony Bevilacqua
I was friends with Michael growing up. I had a crush on him from the moment I saw him, as most girls did! I always think of Michael. He was a very special person to me and to everyone! He just would walk Into a room and everyone would notice- guys loved him- a real smart sarcastic sense of humor (that I don’t think i totally understood at the time- as it was beyond his years) and of course girls did as well love him! I am incredibly sorry that Michael had to go so soon…Whenever I think of Michael I truly feel like he was always an angel on this earth! He made such an impact on so many people in the short time we had him!
-Ari Newman
Honoring Michael
“Up at the field, both teams were gathered in their respective dugouts preparing for the pre-game dedication. Meanwhile fans and families mingled, though there was a palpable melancholy. I overheard two women, who I recognized as the mothers of Calabasas players, talking about the two young men being honored—Sam Rutherford, a 1995 graduate who died from heart problems during his freshman year of college, and Michael Bevilacqua, who had been a year ahead of me in school and died in a jetski accident in 2000. While none of the current players knew Rutherford, and only a few of his high school teammates were able to attend along with his family, most of the baseball team had grown up playing with Bevilacqua, and they had been hit hard. I walked over to a classmate of mine on the verge of tears. Michael Rudow, a decent lineman on the football team but the star goalie of the soccer team; I couldn’t recall him ever having played baseball. I asked if he had known Bevilacqua. He slowly recounted how he had been Bevilacqua’s Little League teammate, and had played baseball with Bevilacqua the spring before his death. We talked about life and death and baseball until the ceremony began.
The home team lined up along the third-baseline and the visiting Oak Park Eagles along the first-baseline as the national anthem played to a flag held up by members of the Coyote baseball team. A poster to be hung beneath the scoreboard bearing the athletes’ names was then unveiled, and Bevilacqua’s No. 11 was officially retired and his jersey presented to his parents; Rutherford’s No. 22 had been retired and given to his family in a commemorative ceremony in 1995. Then the teams took the field. I don’t recall the score of the game, or who won, but I remember the athletes’ expressions and words, their solemn tribute to their former teammate.” – Ashley Z.
