A native of Lake Placid, New York, he finished fifth in the individual large hill at the 1950 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships which were held in Lake Placid. Devlin also made five Olympics teams, competing in the 1952 and 1956 Winter Olympics, where he finished 15th and 21st in the individual large hills, respectively.
Prior to the 1950s, Devlin also flew fifty combat missions over Europe during World World War II as a B-24 pilot, earning three Purple Hearts and numerous other military honors. Devlin, with fellow Lake Placidians J. Bernard Fell, Ronald MacKenzie, Jack Shea and Vern Lamb, also led the effort to bring the 1980 Winter Olympics to Lake Placid, lobbying across Europe to present their case to the International Olympic Committee. Devlin married and had three children.
He died of brain cancer in 2004.
