Bentley Legend and ICL Charter Hall of Famer Bob DeFelice Passes Away
Bentley University announced on Monday afternoon the death of legendary baseball coach and Director of Athletics Bob DeFelice at the age of 82.
DeFelice spent 54 seasons as coach of the Bentley University baseball program until he retired in 2022. At the time of his retirement no baseball coach at any NCAA level had a longer tenure.
Bob was inducted as a charter member of the Intercity League Hall of Fame in 2010 after a long and outstanding playing career as a catcher with the Boston Typos and the Hosmer Chiefs.
A 1963 graduate of Boston College, “Defa” spent three seasons in the Boston Red Sox organization. He was a lifelong resident of Winthrop, MA and served as Winthrop High School’s football coach for 17 years and led the Vikings to two Super Bowls.
Bob’s obituary is below:Robert DeFelice Obituary
It is with great sadness that the family of Robert Anthony (“Coach”) DeFelice announce his passing on Sunday October 6, 2024. He was 82 years old at the time of his passing. An educator, administrator, and coach with a career spanning six decades, Coach will be remembered lovingly and forever for the countless number of lives he impacted. He was a lifelong resident of his beloved Winthrop, MA
DeFelice is a 1959 graduate of Winthrop High School, and a 1963 graduate of Boston College with a Bachelor of Science degree in history. He began his coaching career in 1963 as head football coach and assistant basketball coach at Christopher Columbus High School, a position he held for three years. In 1965, he began a three-year playing career in the Boston Red Sox minor league organization. In 1967, he was a player-coach with the Pittsfield Red Sox. In that same year, He became the first head baseball coach of the then Bentley College Baseball program, a position he would hold for an astonishing 54 years.
DeFelice spent 17 years (1970-86) as an educator, administrator, and head football coach at his alma mater, Winthrop High School. During that time, he led the Viking football program to a 101-65-2 record, with four Northeast Conference championships, a 33-game winning streak in the early 1980’s and two Eastern Massachusetts Division II Super Bowl titles. In 1987, he joined the Bentley University athletic department staff on a full-time basis, first as an assistant athletic director, then an associate athletic director, and finally in 1991 as the Director of Athletics. He held this position until he retired in 2022 at the age of 80.
He has been inducted into nine Halls of Fame, the most recent being the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association Hall of Fame. He was honored by Boston College in 1986, Bentley in October 1999, and was a charter member of the Winthrop High Hall of Fame in 1997. In November 2002, he was one of four inductees into the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. In November 2010, he was a charter inductee into the Intercity Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches, the Boston Park League and the Union Printers International Baseball League halls of fame. DeFelice helped establish the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference and was a founder of the Eastern Football Conference. He served as the EFC commissioner from 1997-2000, when it was absorbed by the Northeast-10 Conference.
Among the many honors he has received are the Jack Butterfield Award from the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association, the Murray Lewis Award from the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Football Officials and the Whitey Allard and Marty McDonough Memorial Sportsmanship Award from the College Baseball Umpires Association of New England. He received the George C. Carens Award from the New England Football Writers in December 2017 for his lifelong contributions to the sport of football and received the Ron Burton Distinguished American Award in May 2022 from the Grinold Chapter of the National Football Foundation.
DeFelice is survived by his wife of over 57 years Patricia (Markunas) DeFelice, his 4 children Christine, Kimberly, Michael, and Nicole all of Winthrop MA, and seven grandchildren: Alexandra, Michael, Robert, Anthony, Francesca, Matthew, and Nicholas. He is also survived by his Brother Francis DeFelice and his wife Susan (Mahegan) of Swampscott, MA, his sister Susan DeFelice of Winthrop, MA and countless nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Family and friends are cordially invited to attend the visitation from the funeral home on Friday, October 11, 2024 from 3:00 to 7:00 PM. The funeral will be conducted from the funeral home on Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 9:00 AM followed by a funeral mass in St. John the Evangelist Church 320 Winthrop St., Winthrop at 10:00 AM. Services will conclude with the interment in the Belle Isle section of Winthrop Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Viking Pride Foundation at www.vikingpride.org or to the Bentley Falcons Athletics at www.bentley.edu.
