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Dr. Dennis Sullivan was hired by the Bridgehampton Board of Education on July 2 to as interim athletic director.
Mike DeRosa at Bridgehampton School graduation in June. COURTESY BRIDGEHAMPTON SCHOOL
"Bubbapalooza" is set for Thursday, August 21, at The Barnyard in Hampton Bays from 5-10 p.m.
"Bubbapalooza" está programado para el jueves 21 de agosto en The Barnyard en Hampton Bays de 5 a 10 p.m.
Dr. Dennis Sullivan was named interim athletic director of the Bridgehampton School District at a Board of Education meeting on July 2, while current athletic director, physical education teacher and coach Michael DeRosa rehabs from Stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Bridgehampton Superintendent of Schools Mary Kelly said Sullivan will be a great addition to the district in DeRosa’s ongoing absence.
“Mike is making really good progress, but he’s not ready to come back to work yet,” she said. “Dennis is filling the seat as we wait for Mike to return. We’re optimistic that he’ll be back. Mike did come to graduation, which was tremendous for the kids who were there to see him. Everybody was excited and thrilled to have him here. I’m sure, as he is continuing to heal, he’ll come back when he’s feeling up to it.
“Dennis was the perfect fit for us in a lot of ways,” Kelly added. “He understands Mike’s passion and dedication and commitment to the kids, and he has a connection with him personally, so we’re excited to have Dennis.”
Sullivan just retired from being an assistant principal in the Patchogue-Medford School District. He and his wife, Denise, who is the superintendent of schools at the Remsenburg-Speonk School District, have lived in Hampton Bays for quite some time. Earlier in his career, Sullivan taught side-by-side with Mike DeRosa’s mother, who is also named Denise, at Hampton Bays Elementary School, so he knows the DeRosa family quite well.
While he does not have any experience in being an athletic director, Sullivan makes up for in his years as an administrator. Kelly and Sullivan also thanked Section XI Executive Director Tom Combs and local athletic directors John Foster (Hampton Bays), Todd Gulluscio (Shelter Island) and Kathy Masterson (East Hampton) for personally coming out to Bridgehampton to help Sullivan in whatever he’s needed thus far.
“My main goal is to keep anything that Mike had going on, any projects he had, to keep going in the direction they were going in,” Sullivan said. “Mike was bringing a lot to the athletes here in Bridgehampton and I just want to keep the ship on that same course, so to speak.
“My hope is for him to recover as quickly as possible so he can get back on his feet and put me back into retirement,” he added, “as soon as they tell me he’s ready to step back in. My hope is that I’ve just continued on the path he was laying so he can seamlessly come back.”
After falling ill and losing the ability to speak while teaching a phys ed class on March 27, DeRosa was rushed to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where doctors found the tumor in his brain. Due to the tumor and following surgeries, he had lost the ability to speak and was paralyzed on the right side of his body.
Christopher DeRosa provided an update on his brother last week and said he’s doing extremely well in all of his therapies. He is walking and he’s regaining good strength in his right leg, and his speech is making its way back as well, slowly but surely.
Some additional good news that Christopher DeRosa also shared was that the latest MRI showed that the one tumor that still exists has not metastasized, and there are no additional tumors, so the chemotherapy and radiation are working, he said.
“His doctor, along with everyone else, we’re all very excited about that news,” he said. “It appears we’re doing the right thing and are on the right path, and as my brother always said to his students and athletes, we’re all showing, along with Mike, what it is to be mentally tough as we go along here. We’ve had all of our family and friends come out this summer, planning a bunch of things with Mike which keeps him in such great spirits.”
Christopher DeRosa said all of the fundraising at the early onset of everything was a huge help, in particular to help pay for his brother’s intense therapy sessions that continue just about every day. With the therapies continuing and getting more intense, family and friends have continued those fundraising efforts, with one of the biggest to date upcoming on Thursday, August 21.
“Bubbapalooza,” aptly named after Mike DeRosa’s childhood nickname, will be held at The Barnyard in Hampton Bays from 5-10 p.m. Created by both of his brothers, Christopher and Terrance DeRosa, Lars Clemensen, Michael’s sister-in-law Steph Ramirez and their cousin Stef Restrepo, the event is open to everyone of all ages. Raffles and a 50/50 will be run by Julie Sapio, Simone Scotto of Scotto’s Pork Store in Hampton Bays will have a food truck on hand, two student-led bands the Southpawz and PB and Jam will be playing along with DJ Chile. Tickets, which can be purchased by scanning the accompanying QR code, are $30 and kids under 13 attend for free.
“We wanted to have a day where everyone gets to see Mike because he’s made such good progress and he wants to see everyone,” Christopher DeRosa said. “He’s very excited. He saw some people at the carnival the other night. We just want him to have a fun day with everyone. As successful as the baseball game was, and the fundraisers that followed, they were all pretty quick while everything was just happening.”
Back in April, Bridgehampton and DeRosa’s high school alma mater Hampton Bays played a varsity baseball game that the community showed up for in force. A similar game is being planned for this fall as Bridgehampton is ready to field its first-ever varsity boys soccer team, which will be led by head coach Davin Johnson. Bridgehampton is expected to play against Southampton, for which Chris DeRosa is an assistant coach to Dave Riley.
A standout baseball player at Hampton Bays, Mike DeRosa was also a three-year varsity soccer player there, and it would have been four had he not opted to play football his senior year. But Christopher DeRosa said his brother loves soccer and it’s been a longtime goal of his to bring the sport to Bridgehampton; that to see it finally come true is really exciting.
Mike DeRosa was also an intricate part in bringing baseball back to Bridgehampton. When the soccer team takes the field, which will be located on school grounds behind the school, it will mark the first time in the school’s long history that it will have varsity sports across all three seasons.
Sullivan said since officially beginning the job on July 7, the focus has been making sure the boys soccer team has everything it needs to start its inaugural season, set to begin on the first official day of fall practice, Monday, August 25.
“When I first stepped in, the first mission has been to get all of the uniforms and equipment in, to meet with the coach and see what did you guys leave off of when Mike went out? What do you need?” he said. “We ordered everything we needed to order. Then we met with Tom Combs, the director of Section XI, and some other East End ADs who were gracious enough to come out here and we talked about the layout of the soccer field given our space and how it would be best to use it with our new scoreboard. Their help was priceless, making sure the basics were ready for the field. The equipment is starting to come in now.
“It’s very exciting,” he said. “I know Davin is really excited to get it going. As of right now, the roster is right around 20 students. I know the community is excited about it and it’ll be one of those things we’ll add to the community here in Bridgehampton.”
