Alum and longtime baseball coach Mickey Sullivan passes at 80

No player in Southwest Conference history ever topped Mickey Sullivan’s .519 batting average, set while playing left field for the Bears in 1954. No coach in Baylor history (in any sport) has more wins than Sullivan’s 649 victories, earned as skipper of the baseball program from 1974-95.

A lifetime Baylor Bear, Sullivan, BS ’55, passed away Thursday after a lengthy battle with cancer. His funeral will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at Baylor Ballpark, where his casket will rest at home plate.

Sullivan was a first-team all-American in 1953 and 1954, then returned to Baylor in 1969 as the Bears’ freshman football coach. Grant Teaff promoted Sullivan to recruiting coordinator for football in 1972, and Sullivan was involved in helping sign some of the key players on BU’s 1974 Cotton Bowl team, including all-SWC RB Steve Beaird, LB Derrel Luce and QB Neal Jeffrey.

Two years later, Sullivan took the reins of his own team as head baseball coach. He led the Bears to back-to-back College World Series appearances in 1977-78 and retired with a career .603 winning percentage, 10th best in SWC history. In the past 50 years, the Baylor baseball program has had only three head coaches (all BU alums): Dutch Schroeder, BS ’49, 1962-73; Sullivan, 1974-94; and Smith, 1995-present.

Sullivan’s oral memoirs are recorded and transcribed in Baylor’s Institute of Oral History. He tells some great stories and drops a few interesting tidbits along the way — about how he wound up at Baylor, once pinch hit for Willie McCovey (a future Hall of Famer) in the minor leagues, scouted Nolan Ryan in high school, briefly recruited Roger Clemens and later Alex Rodriguez, and much more.

Sic ’em, Coach Sullivan, for your lifetime of service and loyalty to Baylor!