Pat Sullivan was my first real hero. I was six years old when he first put on an Auburn uniform, eight when he won the Heisman Trophy.
I spent countless hours in the back yard mimicking his throwing motion. I brought the ball up by my ear and launched wobbling rainbow after wobbling rainbow trying in vain to replicate the smooth spirals he dropped over Terry Beasley's shoulder.
When I was seven my parents bought me one of those little kid football combo packs with the plastic helmet, jersey, pants and pads. I used magic markers to turn the helmet into an Auburn one. I took the jersey that came with it and taped a #7 on it with masking tape. It wasn't navy blue, it was more of a royal blue color but when I put that uniform on, I WAS Pat Sullivan.
I'd grown up hearing about Joe Namath and having his 'greatness' shoved down my throat. Sullivan was my answer to that. Joe was a boozy carouser. Pat Sullivan was a decent, honorable man worthy of adulation. And, in college at least, he was a damn sight better than Namath ever dreamed of being.
When I saw Sullivan on television when he was in New York for the Heisman ceremony and he was wearing the tuxedo, I remember thinking how badly I wanted to be there myself some day. He looked like James Bond and handled himself with absolute class. Of course I sucked at the footballs, so that never happened, but I wanted to emulate that guy in every way.
Not long after he won the Heisman, Sullivan did an autograph tour. I remember standing in line to get his autograph. Nervous and awed, when it was finally my time I froze like Ralphie on Santa's lap in A Christmas Story. Couldn't think of a thing to say. He asked me if I was going to play football. I may have nodded or possibly drooled. Couldn't tell you. He tried a couple of times to draw me out of my stupor and nothing worked. Then he shook my hand and scuffed my hair. Told me War Eagle. I managed to croak that back to him at least. I still have his autographs stored in a photo album. Carried them with me when I moved to Australia as a kid and I still have them today. Cherished.
I finally had a chance to meet him briefly when he was coaching with Coach Dye. I played it all cool and didn't bother to tell him how much he'd meant to me as a kid. Wish now that I had.
Pat Sullivan was Auburn to me. And Auburn was Pat. Everything that I considered to be great about Auburn he embodied. You ask me why I love Auburn as much as I do and you can point almost directly back to Pat Sullivan. Watching him play the game, and then be the man he was off the field cemented my deep-seated love for that school and our people.
I can't say 'I'm going to miss him' because honestly and sadly I hadn't really kept up with his life much after his coaching stint at Samford. But I will always appreciate him for what he did on the field and who he was off it.
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