Sullivans can cherish present with the past

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 2/5/2002

EW ORLEANS - The Patriots' Super Bowl win was, as to be expected, a thrill for the Sullivan family, whose patriarch, Bill Sullivan, was awarded the American Football League franchise Nov. 16, 1959.

''It was just a fabulous, magical night, wasn't it?'' said Patrick Sullivan, the club's onetime general manager, reached by telephone late yesterday afternoon. ''Just a great, great team effort, and for all kinds of reasons, it was a special night.''

One reason, said Sullivan, was what it would have meant to his father, who died in February 1998, some 10 years after selling the franchise he founded.

''You know, it was pretty emotional, really,'' said Sullivan, who watched the game with extended family and friends at his home just outside Boston. ''I thought the whole night how much it would have meant for my father to win that trophy. And I know right now that he feels very excited about the fact that the Patriots did win it. It was his objective for them to win a championship the day he started the franchise, and I know he felt that way until the day he died.

''The Patriots never had a bigger fan than my father, and they never will.''