Sully: The Epic Life & Football Legend of Coach Bob Sullivan

by Jeff Appelquist

Bob Sullivan coached Minnesota high school and college football for an astonishing sixty years. At the prep level, he won conference championships and state titles. He is the winningest coach in Carleton College football history. He is a member of multiple halls of fame, and the field at venerable Laird Stadium at Carleton is named in his honor. His players, more than one thousand of them over three generations, know him simply as “Sully.”

Sully was entirely unique as football coaches go. He was open, flexible and adaptable in a hidebound profession. He brought a kinder, gentler touch to a violent sport. He never raised his voice or berated the young men in his charge. He was more concerned with teaching them to be good citizens than good football players. He led by the example of his own exemplary life.

Bob Sullivan is also a renaissance man, so much more than just a football coach. He earned a master of arts degree in English. He is creative, artistic, and literary; he loves poetry, music, and books. He has a robust sense of humor and is known for his frequent funny turns of phrase called “Sullyisms.” (“Never trust a man who drinks white wine.”)

Throughout his life, Sully has also endured numerous losses, failures, and setbacks, both personal and professional, with stoic grace and quiet faith. Through it all, he has persevered, just as he taught his players to do. “Never give up,” he told them. And he showed them the way. His influence on their lives has been immeasurable.

In Sully, author and former player Jeff Appelquist takes us from the Coach’s humble beginnings in Marshall, Minnesota through his long, eventful life’s journey to gridiron glory and beyond. This epic biography celebrates the grand sweep of an excellent life well-lived.

291 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 30, 2025

About the author

JEFF APPELQUIST is the founder and president of Blue Knight Leadership, LLC. Jeff is a former college athlete, U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, practicing attorney, and corporate executive. He has more than twenty years experience both as an entrepreneur and small business owner and as a leader in Fortune 100 companies. He is an award-winning author, dynamic speaker, and nationally-recognized leadership expert. He is also an avid sportsman who hunts, fishes, sails, and scuba dives.
Jeff's first two books, Sacred Ground: Leadership Lessons from Gettysburg & the Little Big Horn and Wisdom Is Not Enough: Reflections on Leadership & Teams, won a dozen literary awards between them, including multiple first place prizes in the Writer's Digest International, National Indie Excellence, and Midwest Book Awards.
The Great Wild West, Jeff's debut novel, is an epic tale of war and peace, love and loss, man versus nature, and the American dream.