
With the opening day just around the corner, Devin Evangelinos (top row, far right) is looking forward to his inaugural season as Newton Little League's President. Recently-elected by the League's Board, Evangelinos first got involved with the league by coaching his oldest son's team in 2015 and has been integral to the Murphy Lights campaign as a board member. He continues to coach his younger sons as they come up through T-Ball and Rookie League.
Evangelinos leads asset management and capital improvement projects for Northland, the Newton-based multifamily owner, operator, and developer, making him uniquely positioned to help navigate the process of bringing lights to Murphy Field, Newton Little League's primary Majors diamond. "My team manages complex capital projects that involve permitting and dealing with the city," he noted, "and this is a great project that is going to allow us to expand playing time through night games, summer tournaments, and fall baseball - providing more options for coaches, players, and families."
Evangelinos takes the reins from Doug Feldman, whose successful tenure as League President included guiding the league through the recent pandemic. Feldman lauded Evangelinos' devotion to Newton Little League, as well as his expertise in leading large projects like the Murphy Lights campaign. "In addition to his organizational and management experience, and his perspective as both parent and coach, Devin brings a dedication to our league and youth sports in our community," Feldman expressed. "With the support of our board of directors and all our league volunteers, I look forward to watching Newton Little League continue to thrive under Devin's leadership."
Player and coaching development are areas Evangelinos aims to focus on. "We hope to improve our coaching development so coaches can run better practices," he said, "helping more kids to learn more about the game, understand the rules, learn more about the specialized roles like pitchers and catchers. I think that starting this type of player development early will help kids feel confident that they can play in AAA, the majors, and beyond."
Newton Little League is a volunteer-run organization and Evangelinos hopes more people will get involved, either through coaching, joining the board, or assisting in other areas. "I think getting more people involved in the league as volunteers would be great because there are a lot of people out there that have skills that have nothing to do with baseball that would be incredibly valuable to the organization," he said. "One of my goals is to let people know that the board is just a group of people who have committed their time and their skills to help the league in a variety of different ways. It's not a 12-months-of-the-year role. There are a lot of project-based roles - getting the equipment to coaches, getting uniforms to players, finding sponsorships, marketing...all these are things we would like to expand upon."
Evangelinos pointed out the strong sense of community that runs through the league and makes getting involved worthwhile. "The passion people have for this little league program is great, and is a reason why I like living in Newton. My children have made a lot of friends through it, my wife and I have met friends through it, and that's really what I like about it. I think that is kind of the core of what Little League is to me - being neighborhood based, supporting and investing in our community."
For anyone interested in coaching, joining the board, or volunteering, information is available on the website newtonllbaseball.org, or feel free to reach out to
or
.