A good sport

For those who have had Rod Mullen as a history teacher, they know that his United States history class is basically a two-in-one deal: learning sports trivia and the country’s history. Mullen has been a sports fanatic for nearly 45 years, and his passion for sports has led to him being a dedicated supporter at nearly all the sporting events, including lower level games, at Central.

Mullen’s interest in sports began after being embarrassed in the fourth grade. Mullen and his best friend were talking in the library one day when Mullen’s friend mentioned the name ‘Johnny Unitas,’ and Mullen did not know who it was.

“I pretended as though I knew who it was, but I didn’t. I was so embarrassed that I didn’t know who it was, because it was a name that he acted as though I should have known, which of course I really should have known,” Mullen said, “I decided to go grab a book on Johnny Unitas, and I read up on him, and I read up on him so much that he became my first favorite athlete.”

From here Mullen continued to become more involved with sports himself. He ran track and played basketball for a short period. However, his “first love” was baseball, and he played the sport all through grade school and middle school. As he got older, he continued to keep up with sports teams.

Today, he is a huge fan of professional teams; it is typical of Mullen to sport one of his many jerseys. However, he takes Central athletics as seriously as he does upper level sports. Ever since he first began teaching, high school athletics has always been important to him.

“My basic love for sports… I just gravitated towards going to them…,” Mullen said.

His favorite sport to support at Central is basketball, but he shows no favoritism.

“Here it’s hard to pick one. I’m exposed to more basketball than anything, so that’s probably what I would edge towards, but I love them all,” Mullen said.

Supporting the various sports takes up a lot of Mullen’s time, and it requires a lot of planning to work it into his already busy schedule. He plans it out days in advance, and he has to “map out a strategy” of how he is going to get to one part of town to the next.

“I might be in Millard in one afternoon, starting at 4 p.m., [at a] lower level football game, and then by 7 p.m. I’m watching a volleyball match… soccer match or what have you on this side of the city,” Mullen said.

This year Mullen predicts that the basketball team will lead Central out of its slump and win a state title. Mullen has hope for many of this year’s teams.

“The girls are really doing well in softball; in volleyball they’re ranked. You can’t give up on football either,” Mullen said.

Another unique aspect of Mullen, aside from his persistent dedication, is his “wall of fame” displayed on an entire wall of his classroom. Various Central athletes, graduates and current students, hang on the wall for his students to look up to and admire. He first got this idea from former basketball coach Rick Behrens when Mullen taught in his classroom his first three years. Behrens had kept headlines of old historical events on his wall, and Mullen had liked the idea so much that he had adopted it and added his own twist.

“I’m a visual person, visual teacher. I liked seeing that, so I decided to take what I saw on his wall and just expand it to a Central theme,” Mullen said.

Not just anyone is put onto the wall. Mullen stresses the qualifications of making it on his wall, and though he admits there are some other pictures not pertaining to sports, the main reason one is up there is that he or she is a champion.

“The number one thing I look at is a champion, because I want it to be special. I don’t want it to be where ‘Oh, can I go up there just because I think I should be up there?’ And I believe that inspires students to want to do their best to be up there for that reason,” Mullen said.

Mullen’s support of these athletes does not stop here. He still keeps in contact with various Central graduates who are playing collegiate and even professional sports. He recently talked to Shaun Prater, now a professional football player, at a Central football game, watches Lia Mancuso play softball at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and keeps up with many other successful athletes.

For those athletes wanting to earn their space up on Mullen’s wall, or merely wanting the support of Central’s number one fan, Mullen gives this advice: “I always try to do the John Madden philosophy, the famous hall of fame coach with the Oakland Raiders. He said he only had three rules for his players: Be on time, be ready to play and play like heck; in other words give your best.”