There was an athlete with a familiar name to Winthrop fans pitching for the Swampscott High School varsity baseball team against Winthrop Monday at Veterans Field. Gavin Sullivan is the son of Chucky Sullivan and Pamela Hubley Sullivan and if you followed Winthrop High School sports in the 1980s, you know that Chucky was an all-time great in football, hockey, and baseball and played Division 1 hockey at Boston University.
It was Sullivan who helped lead Winthrop High to its only state baseball title in 1981, led by coach Barry Rosen. Sullivan then launched Winthrop’s three-year unbeaten streak in football by powering the Vikings to the Super Bowl title in the fall of 1981. Pamela Hubley was an outstanding basketball player, known for her incredible defensive skills, and she was a major contributor to the Lady Vikings’ Eastern Mass. championship in 1983. That would have been a state title, but the MIAA decided not to have state championship games that year because of the energy crisis at the time. Many consider that team to be Winthrop’s greatest basketball team although Liz Doherty, Lori Thomas, Joanna Saggese, Krissy Indrisano, Erin Pritzky and company may disagree.
But it was great to see Pam and Chucky and the grandparents cheering on Gavin Sullivan, who is certainly an excellent athlete and an impressive young man in his own right.