Kingsmen Trio Share Turmoil and Triumphs

Cassidy O’Sullivan’s house is an ugly mustard yellow, “kind of sick looking,” says the Cal Lutheran tailback and third all-time leading rusher.

It’s an old, one-story, beat-up structure near the Cal Lutheran campus. Not all of the electrical outlets work, and the garage has been converted into a bedroom. O’Sullivan rents the house with three teammates. These Kingsmen live like anything but kings.

Fellow seniors Len Bradley, a wide receiver who led CLU with 49 catches and 753 yards, and middle linebacker Chris Sestito, the second-leading tackler in school history, are frequent guests at the house--usually at a weekly Thursday night party.

After Cal Lutheran’s final game Saturday, a 33-30 loss at Whittier, Bradley and Sestito trudged to O’Sullivan’s house for one last party as teammates. The trio drowned the sorrows of a disappointing senior year, talked, laughed, reminisced and watched the sun rise.

O’Sullivan, Bradley and Sestito find it hard to believe they stuck it out at Cal Lutheran for four years. Three years ago they wanted to transfer, along with just about everyone else in the 1989 freshman class of 17 players, the trio said. The freshmen were frustrated with a lack of playing time, losing, and unfulfilled promises of new athletic facilities.

Only four players--including O’Sullivan, Bradley and Sestito--stayed all four years. Reserve offensive lineman Mike Clarke also remained. O’Sullivan, Bradley and Sestito soon became team leaders and eventually wrote their names into the school record book.

The trio say they are better people for enduring four lackluster seasons--Cal Lutheran was 13-25 and had no winning records--a coaching change (Joe Harper replaced Bob Shoup in the spring of 1990), and the turbulence that accompanied moves from NAIA Division II to NCAA Division III in 1991 and into the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season.

Would they do it again?

“Thinking back, if I would do it all over again, I don’t know. Probably not,” Bradley said.

O’Sullivan and Sestito also have their doubts.

Although they reached many individual goals and forged a strong friendship, ultimately the disappointment and frustration never abated. In 1989, they endured a 3-6 season, sagging team morale and felt alienated by the coach. In 1992, the three expected to win the SCIAC title and earn a playoff berth. They finished 3-6, team morale remained low, and the three players again were disappointed with the coaches.

“Different approaches were taken but we kind of ended up with the same result,” Bradley said.

Still, in the course of four topsy-turvy years, they learned to deal with disappointment. And maybe that’s why they were so miserable during the 3-6 season of 1989, yet so sad when the 3-6 season of 1992 was over. “I feel kind of empty,” O’Sullivan said.

The trio sat in the metal bleachers alongside the empty football field at Mount Clef Stadium two days after their last game.

“I’m going to miss these guys right here,” Bradley said.

They are a diverse mix of personalities and ethnic backgrounds: O’Sullivan is of Irish descent, Bradley is an African-American and Sestito a Latino.

If they aren’t together practicing, playing football or partying at O’Sullivan’s, they are together lifting weights, playing football or having dinner. “Of all the people that I’ve met at this school, there’s only a handful that I really get along with and hang out with,” Bradley said. “Chris and Cassidy are two of them.”

O’Sullivan, who is from predominantly white Big Bear, befriended Bradley almost immediately and roomed with Sestito as a sophomore. His new friendships opened his eyes. “I realized there’s so much more to life than just what I see,” he said.

O’Sullivan, miserable after hardly playing as a freshman and suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee as a sophomore, wanted to transfer to Notre Dame and become a scout team player. “I didn’t even want to play,” O’Sullivan said. “Notre Dame’s been my favorite school for as long as I can remember. I’ve got a Fighting Irish leprechaun tattoo on my ankle.”

An inquiry to Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz through a friend of O’Sullivan’s parents eventually resulted in an answering machine message from Holtz, telling O’Sullivan to stay at Cal Lutheran.

He did, and his lot improved. After playing wide receiver and quarterback in addition to tailback his first two years, he started exclusively at tailback as a junior and rushed for 990 yards, the second-highest single-season total in Kingsmen history.

Bradley was also discontent. Unhappy with a shortage of playing time and at times frustrated by the dearth of African-Americans at Cal Lutheran, Bradley wanted to transfer to Florida A & M after his freshman year. His father Lee, a retired Marine, advised his son to stay. “Once you quit something, it’s easy to quit anything,” Lee said.

Bradley stayed, in large part because of the developing friendship with O’Sullivan and Sestito.

He led the Kingsmen in receptions in 1990 and ’92 and finished his career with 76 catches for 1,159 yards and five touchdowns.

Off the field, he adjusted to the cozy surroundings of Cal Lutheran. He joined the African-American Student Union, was a disc jockey at campus parties and dances, and found peace of mind.

Though Sestito played more than Bradley and O’Sullivan in 1989, he was alienated by what he perceived as shabby treatment of freshmen and a lack of team unity. He also wanted to quit, buoyed by his friendship with O’Sullivan and Bradley and a desire to get his degree, he stuck it out.

Though small by linebacker standards and slow by anyone’s, Sestito (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) substituted determination and hard work for physical gifts.

He became an Academic All-American majoring in business administration and talks of starting a joint venture in a sporting goods business after graduation.

He tempers the disappointment of losing with satisfaction that he, O’Sullivan and Bradley became quality players and shared an unusual experience.

“We made it from our freshman year, where none of us could stand the place, to now,” Sestito said. “It’s a special relationship. I’ve learned a lot from them about playing the game and about being a good person in general.”

Against Whittier, O’Sullivan rushed for 148 yards, Sestito had 18 tackles and Bradley caught two fourth-quarter touchdown passes. The three friends reveled in the fun of playing. Just playing.

“We had a good time,” O’Sullivan said. “Len scored a couple times and we were laughing, you know, having fun.”

A late rally fell short, as so many Kingsmen rallies have this year, and it was over.

Afterward, Sestito and O’Sullivan stood at midfield, surrounded by Sestito’s family and friends. The onlookers were respectfully silent as Sestito and O’Sullivan hugged each other with one arm and held their helmets with the other, tears streaming down their faces.

“The game is fun,” Sestito said. “But it does come and go. The friends you made will always be there. That’s the hardest part about letting go.”