Dr. Lee C. Bevilacqua Memorial Scholarship Fund

Dr. Lee C. Bevilacqua

December 30, 1925 – October 17, 1998

“You really don’t find yourself...until you learn to give yourself away.”

The Dr. Lee C. Bevilacqua Memorial Scholarship Fund is in honor of CU’s team physician whose name was synonymous with Creighton University Athletics for more than three decades.

Bevilacqua,  known by staff, friends, family and student-athletes as “Doc,” collapsed on the sidelines of Creighton’s men’s soccer match against Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., on October 17, 1998 and died at the age of 72 shortly after he arrived nearby Vanderbilt University Medical Center.  Bevilacqua had been the University’s team physician as a volunteer for 32 years and paid his own way when traveling with teams.

Bevilacqua , a lifelong bachelor who grew up in Dixon, Ill., graduated from Creighton in 1956 and received his medical degree from the University in 1961 where he took on the role of team doctor the next year. Throughout the years, Bevilacqua spent 15 to 20 hours per week on campus in a volunteer capacity in addition to his day-to-day medical practice. He was also the track physician at Ak-Sar-Ben Racetrack starting in 1972 until it closed in 1992 and the physician in attendance at countless events at the Omaha Civic Auditorium and the Orpheum Theater.

Bevilacqua was inducted into the Creighton University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 and the month prior to his death he became the first Creighton representative honored by the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame when he was presented the league’s Award of Merit at its Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in St. Louis. 

A fixture on the end of the basketball bench, in the baseball dugout and on the soccer sideline, Bevilacqua was also Union Pacific Railroad medical director for more than 10 years and even after retirement, he continued to work three days a week at the Southwest Medical Center in Omaha until his death.

Bevilacqua was truly a man for others, volunteering his time all over town and spending his lifetime helping anyone who needed assistance. His love for Creighton, staff, coaches and student-athletes, however, is perhaps his greatest legacy.

“I know it really sounds kind of trite,” Bevilacqua was quoted as saying in the Omaha World-Herald in an interview a month before his death, “but I felt like I would like very much to give something back to Creighton, which gave me all my education.”

The Dr. Lee C. Bevilacqua Memorial Scholarship is awarded each year to a CU student-athlete who is in financial need, has a history of giving back to the community through volunteerism and is working towards a career in the medical profession. A donation to the Dr. Lee C. Bevilacqua Memorial Scholarship Fund is tax-deductible, will continue to keep Doc’s spirit alive and will help young men and women attain their career goal.  

'Doc & Friends'