INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Pat Sullivan as the recipient of the 2018 Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction, it was announced by the Conference office on Friday. A former basketball and baseball student-athlete from Lewis University, Sullivan will be formally recognized by the Conference at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Spring Awards Reception in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 22.
Sullivan was nominated by Lewis athletics director Dr. John Planek and women’s basketball head coach Samantha Quigley Smith and recommended as this year’s honoree by the GLVC Awards Committee, based on his service to Lewis, the league, and his community.
The Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction is an honor that extends beyond one’s collegiate career. It is presented to an individual(s) that displays academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character and leadership, while serving their institutions with personal distinction since their graduation, and making postgraduate public or community service contributions to athletics at any level.
The Flyers’ 1965 valedictorian is now a motivational and public speaker with previous engagements at IBM and Nike, as well as, area businesses and professional associations in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois. He has also traveled abroad to speak at basketball camps and clinics in Belgium, Greece, and Ireland, including the national Greek Coaches Association Clinic (2003), and does the same at USA Basketball Coaching Clinics. Before his retirement in 2010, Sullivan spent 34 years at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill., in various roles as coach, administrator, and executive. Before his stint at St. Francis, he was the assistant principal, college guidance counselor, and varsity basketball coach at Providence High School in New Lenox, Ill., from 1965-76, and also worked and directed multiple basketball camps throughout the years for the Milwaukee Bucks and MacGregor Sports Center.
Sullivan has been inducted into seven different halls of fame at every level of competition and was named coach of the year on multiple occasions from the NAIA, Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC), and at the high school level. His laurels also extend to administrative duties, as he was named NAIA Great Lakes Region Athletics Administrator of the Year (1999), CCAC Administrator of the Year (1998-99), NAIA District 20 Athletic Administrator of the Year twice (1987-88, 1988-89), and the Jaycee Educator of the Year for Will County (1971). Additionally, he was part of Community Leaders of America in 1972 and later chosen as the Citizen of the Year for the Irish American Society of Will County in March of 1995.
The Shorewood, Ill., native was named Who’s Who four times by various organizations, including American College and University Students (1965), Strathmore (1999), Empire (2005), and Madison where he was chosen as Member of the Year (2008). Twice he was honored with an alumni award from his high school, Joliet Catholic, as Alumnus of the Year in 1981 and with the Alumni Athletic Achievement Award in 1990.
At Lewis, Sullivan was a baseball team captain, earned District 20 All-State accolades, and had an 11-2 career record on the pitching mound while hitting over .400 at the plate and was a member of the first Lewis team to participate in the NAIA national tournament in 1962. Professionally, on the court, Sullivan finished his collegiate coaching career with more than 500 victories, leading his team to first- or second-place finishes in the CCAC 15 times in 18 years while also advancing to the NAIA National Tournament in 1994 and 1996. More than the wins, the teacher was most proud of his 172 graduating seniors from the basketball team. In recognition of both his athletic and academic accomplishments at St. Francis, the USF Recreation Center was renamed the Pat Sullivan Center upon his retirement.
Sullivan is married to his wife, Peg, and they have five children (Colleen, Katie, Patrick, Bridget, Anne) and 13 grandchildren.
The GLVC’s Alumni Award of Distinction is named in remembrance of Dr. Charles Bertram. Dr. Bertram served as a professor and faculty athletic representative at Southern Indiana and is a former president of the GLVC. He contributed a great deal of time, energy and effort to the league’s success and was instrumental in Conference operations for many years.
Past recipients of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award include Julie (Thoman) Perry, Jim Thordsen, Keith Bailey, Deb DiMatteo, Dr. Alex Lentsch, Dr. Sandra Magnus, Pat White, Dennis Reinbold, Dr. David Porta, Dr. Steven Giles, Julie Fruendt, Dr. Jane Weaver, Jim Vargo, LuAnn Humphrey, Dr. Michael Bernier, Lois Taurman, Larry Tucker, Ron Romain, John Gibson, Francis G. Slay, and Linda Deno.