Coach Sullivan first walked down the walls of Chapin in 1970.

In his 46-year career, many students say he touched and changed their lives.

Sullivan – a football and basketball coach and trombone player for the Chapin Jazz Band – retired in 2016. After retirement, he continued to tutor students in math for the SAT and ACT tests.

Learning math from Sullivan was considered a “rite of passage” for Chap-in students. He coached football for 30 years, basketball for “20-something” years, and played in the jazz band for 10.

Sullivan taught almost every math class offered at the high school, with pre-calculus being his favorite.

Sullivan said he could tell around November of 2017 that something was wrong with his health. He was initially given medicine for acid reflux.

He didn’t want to admit something worse could be wrong, until he finished the SAT prep season with his current group of students.

In April, he was diagnosed with stage 3 esophageal cancer.

After he was diagnosed, former students wanted to raise money to help in his fight.

Ryan Gordon created the Facebook group “Doin’ it for W.F.” and it has 2,000 members already.

Former student Ashleigh Mills Connel set up a Go Fund Me account, under “Doin’ it for W.F.”

Former students in the Facebook group and the Go Fund Me page have posted their encouragements and testimonies of how he helped them through the years.

“Our funny and upbeat coach Sullivan is fighting cancer head-on. Here is your chance to give just a little back to the coach who gave us so very much,” Connel said.

David Santiago and former jazz band members will play and former cheerleaders are getting organized for a fundraiser at 7 p.m. Saturday on Beaufort Street in Chapin.

Events include live music, bake sales and a silent auction. T-shirts and bracelets will be for sale.

Shawn Vogel, owner of SVEE salon in Harbison is donating 30% of the proceeds from haircuts to the fundraiser.

Vogal has lost family members to cancer and wanted to help.

“I played football, and he was the coach I’ll never forget,” Vogal said.

“He was the spark to get everyone going for the game.”

Vogal, Robbie Foxworth and Alex Maxomov, all Chap-in alumni and band members of The Gas Money Band, are playing at the event.

A golf tournament on Saturday, June 30, at Ponderosa Country Club in Batesburg-Leesville has been organized in honor of Sullivan.

Please call 803-490-2067 for more information.