Making the Dream Work in Boston

In his Boston-bred childhood, Lewin dreamed of being something different from his peers. While others fantasized about becoming a Boston sports legend like Larry Bird or Tom Brady, Lewin was more drawn to those who assembled the city’s title teams, individuals like Celtics executive Red Auerbach or Theo Epstein, the hometown wonderkid who halted the Red Sox’s eighty-six-year championship drought in 2004. In fact, when Lewin played video games like NBA Live or Madden, he devoted his time to assembling rosters through trades and signings before simulating the games.

“That was the perspective I operated from,” Lewin says, crediting Boston’s “intellectual fandom” for stoking his interest in front office work. “From a young age, I was aware that there were people whose job it was to find the right players and put together the roster.”

When it came time for college, Lewin’s Harvard-educated parents encouraged him to select an undergraduate-focused liberal arts school. Macalester appealed with its strong academics and invitation to play collegiate football.

By his sophomore year at Mac, Lewin, a math and econ double major, had become even more fanatical about data’s role in athletic contexts. He embraced every opportunity to apply statistical concepts and techniques to team sports, including tackling independent projects with Vittorio Addona, a professor in the Math, Statistics, and Computer Science Department whose research includes sports statistics.

“That was me taking advantage of what makes Mac special: the opportunity to get help from a talented professor in my field of interest,” Lewin says of Addona.