Mickey Sullivan (February 6, 1932 – March 22, 2012) was the head baseball coach at Baylor from 1974 to 1994.

Early life

Sullivan was born in

Aransas Pass, Texas Aransas Pass ( ) is a city in Aransas, Nueces, and San Patricio Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 7,941 at the 2020 Census. Geography Aransas Pass is located at (27.9019, –97.1395),F on the shore of Redfish Bay, a ...

on February 6, 1932 to Alva Sullivan and Effie Sullivan, née McCollum. Sullivan grew up in Houston, Texas and graduated from Sam Houston High School in 1950. As a senior

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

at Sam Houston, Sullivan led the city in rushing and scoring, making the 1949 ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' All-City Team. Sullivan was recruited to play college football by the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

, the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

, and LSU, ultimately accepting a college football

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

to attend

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

Playing career

College career

As a freshman in 1950, Sullivan played on the freshman football team for

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Sam Boyd Samuel A. Boyd (April 23, 1910 – January 15, 1993) was an American entrepreneur, casino manager and developer. He was noted for introducing successful marketing, gambling and entertainment innovations into the casino gambling industry, as w ...

. As a sophomore, Sullivan was a running back on the 1951

Baylor Bears football The Baylor Bears football team represents Baylor University in Division I FBS college football. They are a member of the Big 12 Conference. After 64 seasons at the off-campus Baylor Stadium, renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989, the Bears ope ...

team. Led by All-American

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Larry Isbell, the Bears went on to play in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

and finished the season ranked #9 by the

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and

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, Baylor's highest finish in either poll. Ultimately, while never becoming a full-time starter, Sullivan went on to be a three-year letter winner under

George Sauer George Henry Sauer Sr. (December 11, 1910 – February 5, 1994) was an American football player, coach, college sports administrator, and professional football executive. Career Sauer attended the University of Nebraska where he was an All-Amer ...

. As a baseball player, Sullivan earned All-

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

honors in 1952, 1953, and 1954 and earned All-American honors as an outfielder in both 1953 and 1954. As a senior, Sullivan hit .519, a

record.

Professional career

After his sophomore year at Baylor, Sullivan was approached by the Washington Senators and offered a minor league baseball contract but Sullivan elected to return to Baylor. Upon his graduation from Baylor, Sullivan signed with the

Dallas Eagles Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. Sullivan spent the 1954 season playing minor league baseball for the Artesia Numexers of the Longhorn League, a Class C affiliate of the Eagles. Sullivan began the 1955 season with the Class A Sioux City Soos of the Western League until being called up to the Eagles for the last 52 games. Sullivan also spent the 1956 and 1957 season with the Eagles before retiring.

Coaching career

Upon his retirement from professional baseball, Sullivan began his coaching career as a football coach at Jane Long Middle School in Houston. Sullivan became an assistant football, baseball, and basketball coach at Bellaire High School before moving to Westbury High School where Sullivan was an assistant football coach and the head baseball coach. Sullivan ultimately returned to Bellaire High School as the head football coach. Sullivan also served a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies where, among other players, he scouted

Nolan Ryan Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed "the Ryan Express", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sports executive. Over a record 27-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanning four decades, Ryan ...

. Sullivan returned to Baylor in 1969 as the freshman football coach. In 1972, Grant Teaff promoted Sullivan to recruiting coordinator, a position he held until 1978. In 1974, Sullivan became

Baylor Bears baseball The Baylor Bears baseball team represents Baylor University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team belongs to the Big 12 Conference and plays home games at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears are currently led by head coach Mitch Thompson, who was ...

's 17th head coach, a position he would hold for the next 21 seasons. Sullivan endured just three losing seasons over those 21 years, leading Baylor to three

tournament championships and back-to-back trips to the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

and 1978. In addition to 1977 and 1978, Sullivan also led Baylor to the NCAA Tournament in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. Sullivan coached thirty-one players who were selected in the

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

, including four who were selected in the first round: Jon Perlman (

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

), Stan Hilton (

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

), Pat Combs (

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

), and Scott Ruffcorn (

). Sullivan coached ten players who went on to play

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

: Steve Macko, Perlman, Andy Beene, Fritzie Connally, Lee Tunnell, Ken Patterson, Blaine Beatty, Combs, Ruffcorn, and Dean Crow. On April 17, 2012,

Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...

broke Sullivan's Baylor all-sports' record of 649 career victories.

Personal life

In 1959, Sullivan married his wife Marilyn. Together, they had a son, Vince, and a daughter, Tina. On March 22, 2012, Sullivan died at the age of 80 after a long battle with cancer. His memorial service was held at Baylor Ballpark on March 26.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Mickey 1932 births 2012 deaths All-American college baseball players Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Texas Baylor Bears baseball coaches Baylor Bears baseball players Baylor Bears football coaches Baylor Bears football players Dallas Eagles players People from Houston Players of American football from Texas Sioux City Soos players People from Aransas Pass, Texas National College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees