From the Bench: Former Indians, RCB Coach Richard Iaquinta in Midst of Battle with Stage 3 Lung Cancer
By Jeff Toquinto on February 23, 2025 from Sports Blog
Just prior to former Bridgeport High School Coach and Teacher Richard Iaquinta’s 60th high school class reunion, he was not feeling too well. For a man who stays in shape, eats healthy foods, and who rarely does anything bad to – or puts anything bad into – his body, he is quite sure when things are not clicking.
“I was a little bit off and started getting a little phlegm in my lungs and I asked my doctor about it. We thought it might be some drainage,” said Iaquinta. “I was prescribed some nasal spray to take care of it and actually used it during my class reunion and coughed up a little bit 
of blood. The day after, on a Sunday, I coughed up a lot of blood.”
of blood. The day after, on a Sunday, I coughed up a lot of blood.”
The nasal spray was not the culprit leading to the blood. Instead, it may have proven to be a life saver as it helped unmask something far more serious. It led Richard Iaquinta, who led many a BHS and Robert C. Byrd High School football team into battle, into arguably the biggest battle of his life.
“I found out I have lung cancer, stage 3,” the 78-year-old Iaquinta said. “It wasn’t long after the class reunion (last year) in the summer.”
Iaquinta immediately decided to attack the battle head on. And for those who have known the long-time educator and coach (who is still helping coach and still substituting), that is as big of a non-surprise as learning of the diagnosis is a surprise.
Step one in the battle was heading to the Cleveland Clinic to see what the best plan of attack would be. What he found out was that their method of treatment, nearly 100 percent of it, can be managed here in Bridgeport at United Hospital Center where he has been and remains under the care of Dr. Salman Osman.
“I had radiation and chemotherapy for six weeks and it knocked the snot out of me,” said Iaquinta.
In true old school fashion, the biggest personal issue of going through the treatments was not necessarily what it did to him. Rather, he was more concerned about missing games as an assistant football coach for John Mayer at the Washington Irving Middle School football team.
“I ended up missing two games out of the nine that we had. I often had chemo and radiation on the same day as game nights, which really made it tough,” said Iaquinta. “About halfway through the season when I was really wearing out, I went to the press box because the doctors wanted me to stay away from as many people as possible and to wear a mask.”
Iaquinta said he let the students on the football team know of his cancer on August 8 on day one of practice. He said the support from those kids, the school, the community, his family, and friends has not wavered.
By the end of the past middle school football season, Iaquinta had concluded his radiation and chemotherapy. However, he is still being treated. On Tuesday, Feb. 18, he had an immunotherapy treatment to push the disease back and hopefully put it in remission.
“We did a long-term diagnosis for the next 13 months that includes taking medicine to kill the cancer cells to reduce and hopefully eliminate the chance of cancer cells spreading to other parts of the body,” he said.
Whether it has worked, or is making progress, will be known in the weeks ahead. Iaquinta said a PET scan is in place to see if the tumor is 
shrinking.
shrinking.
Since being diagnosed with cancer, until now, Iaquinta is following doctor’s orders on more than just the treatment front. He was told to keep his routine normal, and to build his body back up to the strength it was at prior to it being taken away by chemotherapy and radiation.
Most important, the medical staff has advised him to listen to his body.
“They have told me when I get tired to take a nap. I’ve listened. Even back in football season I missed a few practices because I was too tired,” he said. “I’m still trying to keep it normal.”
It is working, he said. He has been getting a little bit stronger and feeling better on a daily basis. His past daily requirement of 10,000 steps is increasing to the range of 6,500 to 7,000 and he hopes to see it rise. There is a chance you will see him walking locally in Clarksburg or even at The Bridge Recreation Complex with some familiar faces usually by his side.
“I walked (Tuesday) with (former WI basketball Coach) Brad (Underwood),” said Iaquinta. “I lift a little bit, but not very often and I try to swim some as well.”
Iaquinta’s commitment to physical fitness may be playing a part in keeping him looking extremely well as his battle continues. And it may very well have played a part with another serious health showdown in 2014.
It was in that year that Iaquinta faced heart issues. Eventually, he would have stents put in and have open heart surgery but appears to have managed that well enough that it is down on the list of concerns.
“There were some health issues in my family, which may be part of my diagnosis. My dad had cancer, but he smoked, and I don’t,” said Iaquinta. “I did rub snuff for a while in the 1990s, but that was it. I tried, for the most part, to take care of myself and set a good example for my family and my students.”
The immediate family consists of his wife Barbara and son Christopher. The number of students would be difficult to list even in the vast space of the internet.
Iaquinta, a life-long Clarksburg resident, began to serve as a student teacher in Harrison County in 1968. After a military stint, he began his official career in 1972 at the now defunct Central Junior High.
In 1977, he began a nearly two-decade run as a teacher and coach at Bridgeport High School. He would leave Bridgeport to become the first football coach at Robert C. Byrd High School in 1995 and left BHS to teach at RCB in 1998. He continued teaching full-time until 2002 when he ended up getting into politics, serving as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. And, as noted previously, he is still coaching and teaching in various capacities to this day.
The impact he has had on students is easily in the thousands. In fact, it may be in the tens of thousands. Numbers aside, it would be hard to deny there has been an impact.
Iaquinta does not want a pat on the back for anything he has done. However, there are a couple of requests you can easily meet if it is your thing.
“I would love for people to pray for me,” said Iaquinta when asked if that would be okay to mention.
The other? It is on the physical fitness front, and it is something you can take part in.
On May 17 at the Veterans Memorial Park in Clarksburg, The Richard Iaquinta YMCA of NCWV 5K Run & Walk event will be held. The details are on the flyer below.
“I’ve been going to the YMCA for a long time, all the way back when me and big Al Lanzy would referee games there in the 1990s,” said Iaquinta with a smile. “Races are close to my heart and myself, and my good friend Pete Bowie have organized and ran in a bunch of races so for them to think about me and put my name on that race is an honor. I would love to see a good turnout.”
We would too coach. If you can, say a prayer for Coach Iaquinta and maybe have a run or a walk with him and in his honor in May. After all he has given, it is not too much to ask.
Get well coach.
Editor's Note: Top and cover photos show Richard Iaquinta at his Clarksburg home, while Dr. Salman Osman is shown in the second image. In the third photo, believed to be from the 1970s, shows BHS's football staff of, from left, Iaquinta, Al Lanzy, Wayne Jamison, and Tom Brown. In the fourth photo, another from the 1970s, shows the staff, from left, consisting of Bill Stoneking, Brown, Jamison, Iaquinta, and Lanzy.
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