Talking to Addison Sullivan reminds one of the old variety-show TV acts where a person gets a lot of plates spinning on sticks and then runs furtively among them keeping them spinning. The Sallisaw senior is busy as both an athlete and an academic all-star. She is on the basketball and slow pitch softball teams and on the cheer squad that was the academic state champs in Class 4A and was all-region cheerleader. Hillary Gehrke is Addison’s assistant basketball coach and head coach in softball.

“Addison is a hard worker who always comes in with a great attitude. She was our best defender in basketball. I like to call her our little bulldog because she’s not real tall and she usually always guarded the other team’s best player. She’s a four-year starter in slow pitch as our pitcher. She hit .290 last year and walked just 12 batters. She doesn’t play fast pitch due to her cheer commitments. As a senior leader, she does all the little stuff you would expect from a senior and she leads by her actions which is big for me.”

Academically, Addison will give a main speech at graduation this spring and has received a Valedictorian Scholarship from the University of Oklahoma. She is a member of the National Honor Society as well.

While many athletes cite a college or professional player as a role model for the way they play, Addison recalls a former teammate who modeled a different behavior.

“When I was a freshman, I admired Taite Stites who was a junior on the basketball team. She showed me how to be a positive member of the team and how to lead by example. So I’ve always tried to lead by example and show girls that if you want to change something, you have to work for it rather than sit back and complain. After I leave Sallisaw, I would like to be remembered as the person who never brought my team down and always lifted them up and worked my hardest for the coach.”

When she goes to OU Addison says she would like to study architectural engineering.