Haywood Sullivan - Early Years

Early Years

Sullivan was born in Donalsonville, Georgia, and raised in Dothan, Alabama. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was the starting quarterback for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football team in 1950 and 1951, and a standout catcher for coach Dave Fuller's Gators baseball team in 1951 and 1952. In his two seasons as the Gators' quarterback, Sullivan threw for 2,016 yards in an era when the emphasis was on a running offense. As a Gators baseball player, he was named to the All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) team in 1952. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6'4" (1.93 m) tall and weighed 215 pounds (98 kg). Sullivan signed a guaranteed $45,000 bonus contract with the Boston Red Sox in 1952, a contract that would not have been available in another year under pending baseball rules changes, and thereby ended his college football and baseball career after his junior year.