WILDWOOD CREST – The Board of Commissioners meeting room was packed with people April 30, but none of them cared about the four ordinances or the 21 resolutions being considered.
Many of them were members of the Belasco family – others were friends and acquaintances – and they were really only interested in one thing: The commissioners were honoring Louis J. Belasco III on his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Belasco is one of the only 11% of nominees from across the nation who were accepted as cadets.
As stated in the proclamation honoring him, Louis J. Belasco III, or “L.J.,” as some call him, is the sixth generation to call the Wildwoods home. A resident of Wildwood Crest, he is a member of the Wildwood Catholic Academy Class of 2025.
He is captain of the cross-country, swim and track and field teams and serves as a eucharistic minister at Notre Dame de la Mer Parish.
Belasco also is a member of the Crest Beach Patrol and a volunteer fireman with Wildwood Crest Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, having recently graduated from the Cape May County Fire Academy.
“I attended from Feb. 2 to Saturday, May 3,” he said. “I knew it would be big on my resume and would be really interesting at the same time.”
For those who know him well, Belasco doesn’t need to pad that resume. Sal Zuccarello, his high school teacher, guidance counselor and a relative by marriage, was effusive about him.
“I don’t know if I can respect and admire an 18-year-old as much as I have him,” Zuccarello said.
He said Belasco is the kind of person you don’t have to ask to volunteer – he just does.
“He just wants to do it. He’s selfless, He’s very unique,” Zuccarello said.
Belasco began thinking about going to West Point at a young age.
“It was right around 8 that I started getting the idea of attending a service academy,” he said.
He said for much of the time he kept the matter to himself, and at age 10 he started talking about it. It was always in the front of his mind, so, early on, he figured out what would be required to gain entry, and he set about becoming what he had to be in order to get accepted.
He began to prepare himself physically, academically and emotionally, and to develop the kind of character traits he could demonstrate for the review committee.
“When I had my first meeting with a guidance counselor at Wildwood Catholic Academy, the guidance counselor said it was the fastest meeting she ever had with a freshman,” he said, explaining that he told her he knew exactly what he wanted to do.
He also had a good idea of how to achieve his goal.
Zuccarello explained it further.
“Upon entering his freshman year, they placed him in college prep classes, but he insisted he wanted to be in honors classes, and he was willing to do the work,” he said. “He challenged himself in the future to take the hardest schedule he could – all AP courses.
“He wanted to better himself, and he challenged himself, and he did it with grit, hard work and good study skills. You can’t tell him he can’t do anything, and that’s what makes him. You can see why they scooped him up.
“He’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever met.”
Zuccarello said he wasn’t speaking in terms of aggression, but added, for example, that Belasco would ride his bike to school no matter the weather.
Belasco’s father, Louis Belasco Jr., said he had a collision with a car while riding his bike to school, and despite some bleeding, he refused treatment and continued on to class.
Zuccarello said Belasco would get up at 5 a.m. to train to be a better swimmer, track or cross-country runner. As a member of the Wildwood Crest Beach Patrol, Belasco would work all day on the beach and then go to his second job at Sam’s Pizza.
“That’s what makes him the kind of person he is,” he said.
Belasco is a member of the student council and of the sacristan club, which prepares all the school Masses.
His father stressed that his son’s accomplishment is not just his alone.
“It takes a village, and that is what the Wildwoods have given to my children,” he said. “Everyone had a small part, in my opinion.
“To have L.J.’s acceptance is a lot due to his hard work, perseverance and goal-setting, and what gave him that is not just me and my family but the whole island. All have a piece of this man and sending him to the military academy.”
He said the entire process of his son’s working to make his dream come true was “pretty amazing to watch.” He said that dream really kicked into overdrive once he got into high school.
He said he always told his kids that hard work and persistence would pay off, and his son is living proof of that.
“For me it has been an amazingly proud moment,” Belasco Jr. said. “Being proud doesn’t even summarize it. It’s been a fantastic journey.”
Belasco III took part in an informational session on West Point candidacy in March 2024. On Nov. 28, 2024, he had an interview with a nomination committee at Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s office in Northfield, and on March 14 he was notified that he had been accepted.
Now 17, Belasco turns 18 on May 16, which is also his last day of classes at Wildwood Catholic. He graduates on June 3, and on June 30 he will go through R-Day – Reception Day – at the military academy. He will spend six weeks in cadet basic training before entering his first year, known as pleb year. He said it is not until after pleb year that the cadet chooses his or her major.
Belasco III said he is most looking forward to meeting his classmates, knowing they all already have something in common. He said he is also looking forward to the challenges at West Point to see what he really can do.
Asked what he would miss about home, he said, “I will miss the ocean a lot; especially in the summer.”
He is the third of five children born to Louis Jr. and Lisa Belasco and has two brothers and two sisters.
The Board of Commissioners proclaimed Wednesday, April 30, 2025, as “Louis J. Belasco III Day.”
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
