Hall of Fame
Patrick Anthony "Tony" Sullivan was born on January 5, 1941 in Waterford, Ireland and began playing soccer at the age of 12. He attended his local Mount Sion Christian Brothers High School, where he played Gaelic football and hurling. In 1959 his family emigrated to the United States and stayed with relatives in Hollywood.
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In 1960, he began playing with the Los Angeles Gaelic Football team, and they won the North American Gaelic Football Championship Finals against Toronto. Tony Morejon, the Basque coach of the Hollywood Soccer Club, saw Sullivan score two goals in a winning game against a German team, and signed him. The Hollywood Club was located in Los Angeles and was comprised of international players from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. Morejon had a practice of having his team play multiple games against teams from Mexico and from Argentina, in addition to the European clubs, to improve their skills. At that time, soccer was gaining in popularity in the United States, and many European teams trained in Los Angeles during the winter.Â
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In 1963, an Irish priest wrote USF soccer coach Bob Braghetta about Sullivan, and Steve Negoesco and Father Menard met with Sullivan and offered him a soccer scholarship. Sullivan accepted and enrolled in the class of 1967 at the age of 22. They lost their first game against San Jose State 8-0, but went on to win the Conference. The Dons were scheduled to play Stanford in the Conference game to qualify for the NCAA Finals, but it was canceled when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In the interim, Stanford was found to have used an ineligible player, and the game was forfeited. The next week, USF beat San Jose State 2-1 and qualified against Saint Louis. The game was played at USF’s Balboa Stadium. The Dons scored the first two goals of the game, but lost in overtime.Â
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After graduating with a Bachelor’s in History, Sullivan worked in the field of software development with his brother-in-law, until his retirement in the 1990s. He now resides in Arizona.
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