Sullivan, Mick

Mick Sullivan, byname of Michael Sullivan, (born January 12, 1934, Pudsey, Yorkshire [now part of Leeds, West Yorkshire], England—died April 5, 2016, Wakefield, West Yorkshire), British rugby player who was one of Britain’s most reliable and respected rugby league players for a decade (1954–63).

Sullivan attended Dewsbury (Yorkshire) Technical School and was working as a plumber when he began playing rugby with a local amateur club. He made his professional debut with Huddersfield in 1952 and joined Wigan (in Lancashire) in 1957 for a then-record £9,500 (about $26,600) transfer fee. He set a new record of £11,000 (about $30,800) when he left Wigan in 1961 for St. Helens. He finished his career in Yorkshire, with the York and Dewsbury teams, and retired in 1966 with a career total of 342 tries, including a record 50 scored during the 1957–58 season.

During his international career, Sullivan played in 46 Test matches for Great Britain (a record that stood until Garry Schofield tied it in 1994) and scored 41 tries (touchdowns) for the national team. He appeared in three Rugby League World Cups (1954, 1957, and 1960), helping Great Britain to the title in both 1954 and 1960. He also toured with the national team; during the 1958 Ashes series in Australia, he scored 38 tries, a record for a British tour.

Although he was only 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 metres) tall, Sullivan combined speed and agility and was a powerful tackler. He was also known for his sense of fun: he once defused a tense situation when he stopped play to peel and eat an orange that had been thrown at him by opposing fans in the stands.