By Kyle Coppola
Bubba Sangster Night: Umatilla High Baseball To Honor Fallen Graduate
UMATILLA, FL – The Umatilla High School Bulldogs baseball team will host Bubba Sangster Night on Friday, March 1, at 5:00 PM, as they face the Mount Dora High Hurricanes. The event honors the memory of Bubba Sangster, a former Umatilla High baseball player and student tragically killed this past summer when he was struck by a vehicle in Astor.
Bubba and his family are deeply cherished by the Umatilla community, and this game will serve as a heartfelt tribute to his life and legacy. Bubba is remembered as a person who brightened people’s days. He was beloved by his teammates, community and so many who knew him. Bubba was not only a great person but a great ball player.
(Tragically Bubba lost his life at just 26-years-old. He will be honored by Umatilla High School baseball March 1st, 2025.)
Sangster would also play for St. John’s River Community college and Faulkner University at the collegiate level. At the time of the accident Sangster was just 26 years old. He is buried at Lakeside Memory Gardens in Eustis, Florida.
As a special tribute, the Bulldogs will wear hats adorned with a commemorative patch for Bubba and don jerseys bearing his number, 10, with “Sangster” displayed on the back. A ceremony will take place before the game, with Bubba’s entire family in attendance. Bubba’s father is going to throw out the first pitch.
Head Coach Tanner Clark emphasized the importance of this event, saying it’s a way for the community to come together, celebrate Bubba’s life, and show support for the Sangster family.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the Sangster family. This was a terrible tragedy but for those who knew Bubba, his legacy will live on forever. He meant a ton to the Umatilla and our Lake County community.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
