NE10 40th Anniversary Home Page
It’s been an amazing run for Coach Bob DeFelice, who has impacted Bentley University athletics like no other and has been involved in the Northeast-10 Conference throughout its 40-year history. Rightfully so, he was included on the NE10’s list of Iconic Individuals.
The dean of active college baseball coaches nationwide, DeFelice arrived on campus shortly after Bentley moved to its Waltham campus in 1968 and made out the first of more than 1,800 lineup cards in April 1969 for a game against Boston State.
To put that far away day into perspective, consider that it was only a few months after the Jets stunned Baltimore in Super Bowl III. It was only weeks before player-coach Bill Russell guided the Celtics to their 11th NBA championship in 13 years. Richard Nixon was the President, and it predated the Moon Landing, Woodstock and the Miracle Mets.
Highlights of his tenure as the only head baseball coach in Bentley annals have included 13 20-win seasons since 1990, 20 appearances in the conference postseason tournament and a pair of NE10 Coach of the Year awards. In 2002, his team led Division II in home runs per game, knocking the ball out of the park 98 times in 41 games. Year number 53 got underway this past weekend when the Falcons took on Franklin Pierce on the field that bears his name.
DeFelice, following about four years as an assistant athletics director, became only the second Director of Athletics in Bentley history in 1991 and maintained that position until his retirement in September 2020.
It’s a tenure that has featured two NCAA Division II National Championships (field hockey in 2001, women’s basketball in 2014) as well as 120 Northeast-10 Conference Championships in 14 sports. There was the elevation of ice hockey to Division I, as well as over 100 NCAA Division II tournament berths (not including a number of individual qualifiers in track, swimming and diving).
Falcon student-athletes prospered in the classroom throughout his nearly three decades at the helm. There were 64 CoSIDA Academic All-America awards and when the conference announced its academic awards, Bentley was almost always at the top of the list for the Commissioners’ and Academic Honor Roll.
“Throughout his career, Bob has instilled a commitment to academic excellence in our athletic program and across all 21 of our varsity teams," said Dr. Andrew Shepardson when he announced DeFelice would be retiring as athletics director. "We're particularly proud of that commitment to scholarship and grateful to Coach for emphasizing academic excellence as a hallmark of Bentley athletics."
Vaughn Williams, who succeeded DeFelice as Director of Athletics, said of his predecessor, “Coach instilled an expectation of excellence in our student-athletes. I’m excited and honored to continue the tradition.”
Under DeFelice’s leadership, Bentley captured the Northeast-10 President’s Cup eight times and almost always finished in the top three. The baseball field, the hockey rink and the plaza outside the Bentley Arena all carry his name, and there is also a statue of the legendary coach outside the Arena.
“Coach reaffirmed my belief in loyalty and trust, which are cornerstones in building real relationships,” said longtime Bentley associate athletics director and assistant baseball coach Kevin Loftus. “His work ethic is like no other, his mind never shuts off, and he’s passionate and relentless in always trying to make Bentley athletics better. That’s who he is, a day-to-day guy who gets after it.
“He’s had so much to do with the physical development of what you see at Bentley, almost to the point of being a one-man shop,” continued Loftus. “He always had in the best interest of the university as a whole.”
Probably the most visible of DeFelice’s contributions to the athletic program was the growth of the facilities. The football stadium was renovated and expanded, the baseball field was relocated to the former DeVincent property with seating added for 1,700, and there was the addition of a grass soccer field and a track adjacent to the DeFelice Field. The Dana Center was expanded with the addition to new weight rooms and a food court.
The newest addition was the construction of The Bentley Arena, an amazing $45 million building which opened as the home of Bentley hockey in 2018.
Amazingly, DeFelice 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. DeFelice 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. In December 2017, he received the George C. Carens Award from the New England Football Writers for his lifelong contributions to the sport of football.
Northeast-10 Commissioner Julie Ruppert said, “Bob is one of those people who finds his spot. I know what he’s done for this league and I know how much of the foundation he’s provided to the NE10 in its formation. There’s very few people that would come to mind before you got to Bob DeFelice on this list of people who have been so important to the NE10.”
Bob DeFelice Links of Note:
ABOUT THE NE10
Beginning its 40th anniversary season, the NE10 is an association of 14 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.
Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
