Sports: Working hard worked well

Working hard worked well

Clearwater Central Catholic's Kevin Sullivan knew one speed as a senior football player and wrestler: non-stop.

By PETE YOUNG

Beat. Dog-tired. Totally exhausted.

Kevin "Rocky" Sullivan, like his Clearwater Central Catholic teammates, left it all on the football field on Friday nights.

When the sun crested the horizon the following morning and his teammates slept off the fatigue, Sullivan awoke early to the alarm clock and reported to work at Mease Countryside Hospital.

Sullivan, who also was a wrestling standout for the Marauders, didn't use the weekend respite to pamper his bumps and bruises. Instead, his Saturdays and Sundays, all day both days, were spent working at the hospital.

Monday morning it was back to school, where he earned a 3.93 unweighted grade point average.

For his diligence, dedication and performance on and off the field, Sullivan is the Times 1999-2000 Pinellas County Boys Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

"Saturdays were always fun," Sullivan said with a hint of sarcasm, "waking up at 7 after the big football game and hobbling around the hospital all day."

Sullivan, whose father, Garry, is a pharmacist and whose mother, Maryellen, is a physical therapist, began working at the hospital to fulfill the volunteer requirement in the CCC curriculum. He liked it so much that he continued to work there, assisting the anesthesiologists, long after his volunteer requirements had been met.

This fall Sullivan will attend the University of Florida on an academic scholarship and will be a nurse anesthetist major.

"Working in the hospital the last few years, a lot of people I've talked to said it's a good field to get into," Sullivan said. "It's been a great experience."

If you were a classmate of Sullivan's at CCC, there probably were more than a few times you resented him. Why? Because he says schoolwork is pretty easy for him.

"I've always been a good student, it comes pretty easy," said Sullivan, who scored a 1,290 on the SAT. "I want to do well in school, and I'm pretty lucky because it all comes to me so naturally."

However, his athletic success is primarily due to hard work. Sullivan, who lived near Boston before the family moved to Clearwater when he was in sixth grade, never wrestled or played football before high school, yet he excelled at both at CCC.

In football Sullivan played both ways, at fullback or guard on offense and just about everywhere in the front seven on defense (weighing 160 pounds he played some defensive tackle), helping CCC advance to the second round of the state playoffs. Sullivan cites the Maruaders' triumph in a three-way district tiebreaker with Tampa Catholic and St. Petersburg Catholic this season as the highlight of his high school athletic career.

"He is hard-nosed tough. He's as tough a kid as I've ever been around," CCC football coach John Davis said. "He'd play fullback, block his rear-end off, and then we'd need a guard and he'd go do that.

"I can't tell you how tough a competitor he is. Every coach we played against had positive comments about him. I don't think you could have picked a better guy (for the scholar-athlete award.)"

As a wrestler, Sullivan was outstanding. He was selected the Times Pinellas County Wrestler of the Year as a senior and was the state runner-up at 160 pounds his junior and senior seasons.

"The coaching staff at CCC is great, they support you in everything," Sullivan said. "They're not selfish people. It was the football coach who convinced me to do wrestling. They're always staying on you, making sure your grades are good.

"I've always been a pretty motivated person. I love sports, and the academics came naturally. They went hand-in-hand throughout my life. I wouldn't have been able to excel at one without the other."