After more than 30 years, John Sullivan is retiring from Carson High

When Paul Croghan, the Carson High girls basketball coach and boys and girls golf coach, announced his retirement a few months ago it presented a huge void in the schools' athletic department.

Now another one is opening up.

Senator softball coach John Sullivan, who has been a teacher and coach at Carson High for almost the last 35 years, said he will retire after the season. The announcement came before his last game ever at the Carson High softball field.

"After almost 35 years, my accountant said it would be smart for me to retire," joked Sullivan after his team's 11-0 win over South Tahoe on Wednesday afternoon.

Sullivan, 60, was a senior on Carson's 1964 Northern Nevada 2A championship football team and was one of three Senators to be inducted in August of 2000 into the inaugural Carson High Football Hall of Fame. He was raised in Carson City, graduated from Carson High and then graduated from the University of Nevada.

"When I came out of the college in 1968, 1969, the job market was either go to Austin (Nevada) or Carson," Sullivan said. "I chose Carson."

He coached football at Carson High until 1992, which is when he took over the Senator softball program. Since then, he has never missed an appearance in the zone playoffs, a run of 10 consecutive seasons. Later this month, Carson, which improved to 10-6 in the Sierra League after Wednesday's win, will make it 11 straight trips to zone under Sullivan.

The Senators won four straight zone titles from 1995-98. Sullivan's most memorable moment, however, was when he won the 1994 state championship. But he has plenty others.

"I was lining the field this morning and thought to myself, 'This is the last time I'm going to do this," said Sullivan, who has compiled a 255-119 career record. "I'm going to miss it. I'm going to miss the girls and watching their athletic ability. I'm also going to miss the coaching part of it. Plotting and strategy and everything that goes with it."

So now what will he do?

"I don't know right now, I'll take a couple of months off and then see," said Sullivan, whose wife, Jan, is the principal at Fremont Elementary School and won't retire for another four years. "You never know. Maybe I'll come back out here and ask if I can help out, but I don't plan on it. I'm sure I'll do what everybody else does for now. Hunt, fish, play golf and do some traveling."