Devlin Whitmore Beauchamp was born April 19, 1958 to Frederick "Beau" Beauchamp and Margaret "Margie" Vickers Beauchamp in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Devlin's father, a mortician, was killed in a single-car accident on June 24, 1958. Authorities were never able to determine the cause of the crash. Rumors permeated the small town, some speculating that Beau had killed himself because his wife was seeing another man while others claimed the unidentified boyfriend had run Beau off the road to free Margie from her marriage.

Following the death of her first husband, Margie and her son moved in with her parents, Grover and Iris Vickers, who also lived in Murfreesboro. In 1960, 26-year-old Margie Beauchamp married 45-year-old Thomas Rodale, a local engineer. Two years later, Margie gave birth to her second son, Jordan. In 1968, Thomas Rodale relocated the family to Oxford, Mississippi, where Devlin lived until he went to college.

Devlin Beauchamp first made a name for himself in Oxford when, at age 14, he was the youngest player ever to make the starting lineup of the Oxford High School varsity baseball team. Devlin went on to distinguish himself as an above-average third baseman and an outstanding clean up hitter. Several universities and a few professional teams heavily recruited him during his senior year of high school. But Devlin's dreams of a career as a professional baseball player came to an abrupt end when he suffered a devastating injury during a divisional playoff game at the end of his senior season. Though Devlin did go on to play amateur baseball and softball as an adult, he was never able to achieve his former level of play.

In 1976, Devlin left Oxford to attend the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He spent five years at the university, studying a myriad of subjects and changing his major several times, but never earning enough credits for a degree in any of the areas he studied. To earn spending money while he was in Chapel Hill, Devlin worked part-time as a cook at Uncle Bubba's Chicken and Ribs.

In 1981, Devlin left North Carolina with his then-girlfriend Paulette Milstrom and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. While Paulette attended graduate school at Tulane, Devlin took a job at Mama's Dixie 'Cue, where he started as a cook and was later promoted to kitchen supervisor. Devlin and Paulette lived together in a one-bedroom apartment in New Orleans for more than two years. When the couple exchanged Christmas gifts in 1982, Paulette gave Devlin a cologne she'd had specially formulated for him at a local parfumerie and he gave her an engagement ring. Paulette accepted his proposal and they made plans to marry in the fall of 1983.

But their plans for a future together were short-lived. In June of 1983, Devlin came home from work one night to find Paulette and all of her belongings gone from their shared apartment. All that remained was a note from Paulette, left taped to the television set where he was sure to see it. In the note, Paulette told Devlin she had left him for one of her professors and she and the professor were eloping that night. She apologized for hurting him, but Devlin never fully recovered from the hurt and betrayal. He vowed he would never trust another woman and never marry. He never did.

With New Orleans too full of painful memories, Devlin spent the next seven years traveling and working in different restaurants in cities around the South, including Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, and Nashville. In 1987, Thomas Rodale passed away unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. Devlin offered to return to Oxford to be with his mother after the death of her second husband, but she insisted it wasn't necessary. However, when Margie Rodale suffered a debilitating stroke in 1990, Devlin did move back to Oxford and into his mother's house, where he took care of her until her death in 1991.

To earn money while he cared for his mother, Devlin started a small barbecue stand. He served only lunch, but the stand grew in popularity and Devlin was able to make enough money to support his mother and himself, with assistance from their savings accounts. Devlin's half-brother Jordan sent occasional checks to help cover Margie's expenses, but did not return to Oxford until his mother's funeral. The brothers, who had never been close, were further estranged when it was revealed that Margie Rodale had left her entire estate to Devlin. Jordan unsuccessfully contested the will and the men rarely spoke to each other except through their lawyers.

In early 1992, one of Devlin's regular customers at the barbecue stand suggested the two of them go into business together and start a real restaurant "with tables and everything." After batting the idea around for several weeks, Carl Dixon and Devlin reached an agreement. The barbecue restaurant would have a baseball theme, starting with its name "Home Plate," and would make the most of Devlin's local renown as a former baseball star. With a lot of hard work and a little luck, Home Plate opened in time for football season that same year and was a big hit with Ole Miss fans and opponents' fans alike.

After a warm reception from the Oxford community, Home Plate received rave reviews in the years following its opening from regional newspapers, including The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and The Commercial Appeal, as well as national magazines, including Southern Living and Bon Appétit. The reviews always singled out Devlin's secret barbecue sauce for their highest praise, citing its "perfect marriage of tang and sweet" and its unusual combination of spices that gave it "an unexpected depth of flavor with just the right amount of kick."

As Home Plate became more successful, so did its co-owners Carl Dixon and Devlin. Despite the increase in his income, Devlin continued to live in the home that his mother left him, preferring to spend his money on his social life. At the time of his death, Devlin was dating casually when his schedule permitted, but was not known to be seeing anyone special.

Devlin Beauchamp was found dead in his bathtub on January 16, 2000 by his business partner, Carl Dixon. Preliminary indications are that Devlin was bludgeoned to death sometime late on the night of January 15, 2000. The investigation into Devlin's murder is ongoing.