Mr. Belding's Love For The Hudson Valley Makes His Death Hit Hard

Dennis Haskins, the actor who spent a decade as the lovable Principal Richard Belding on Saved by the Bell and never stopped being grateful for the role, has died at 75.

For a generation of Hudson Valley kids (like me) who grew up watching Bayside High on Saturday mornings, this news stings in that particular way that only a childhood icon can.

But Haskins wasn't just someone Hudson Valley fans watched on TV. He came here. More than once. And he made it clear every time that he genuinely meant it.

Saved By The Belding Night In The Hudson Valley

His most documented Hudson Valley appearance came in June 2017, when Haskins was the guest of honor at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill for a Hudson Valley Renegades "Saved by the Belding" night.

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He threw out the ceremonial first pitch and spent the evening signing autographs and taking photos with hundreds of local fans during a special Teacher Appreciation Night meet-and-greet.

He talked afterward about how moved he was by the multi-generational nature of the crowd, noting that he got to meet real Hudson Valley educators who grew up watching Mr. Belding alongside a brand new generation of kids discovering the show through syndication for the first time.

Mr. Belding Loved Upstate New York.

That Fishkill stop was part of a larger pattern. Haskins spent much of the 2010s traveling the country as an independent entertainer.

He made it a point to reach communities that didn't have easy access to major pop-culture conventions like New York Comic Con.

"I wanted to bring the experience directly to local ballparks," he said during his regional tours, "because I wanted more isolated, regional fandoms to feel included."

His Upstate New York stops included Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill, Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy for the Tri-City ValleyCats, Dwyer Stadium in Batavia for the Batavia Muckdogs, and Falcon Park in Auburn for the Auburn Doubledays in the Finger Lakes region.

At each stop, he spent hours having one-on-one talks with fans. He said he preferred the smaller Upstate New York ballparks over larger venues because the scale allowed him to have real conversations with individual families rather than rushing through a line.

Many Stops In New York City

His New York appearances extended into the city as well. In 2014, he hosted multiple performances of Bayside! The Musical! at Theater 80 St. Marks in the East Village, a cult-hit adult parody of the show where Haskins would watch alongside the audience and interact with fans in the lounge afterward.

He also hosted 90s nostalgia bar nights at Turtle Bay and McFadden's Saloon in Manhattan, and appeared at Johnny Utah's at Rockefeller Center for fan events.

In February 2015, he was part of one of the most viral moments in late-night television history when he reunited with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, and Tiffani Thiessen on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, filming a Saved by the Bell reunion sketch on a recreated Bayside High set at 30 Rock.

Haskins had Parkinson's, although an official cause of death has not been confirmed.