Jesse McCullough
Class of 1991
Three-sport athletes are increasingly rare in high school sports, which renders even more impressive the Green Wave sports career of Jesse McCullough.
In tandem with twin brother Jamie McCullough, Jesse achieved memorable success and carved his niche in NMHS sports annals with his performances in soccer, basketball and track & field.
His best sport was soccer, and scoring goals was his specialty. During a three-season varsity career, Jesse scored 49 goals, often set up by brother Jamie, and assisted 26 more Green Wave scores. For his efforts, he was voted all-Western Connecticut Conference all three years and was chosen state class ‘L’ all-state after his junior and senior seasons.
Following his final Green Wave soccer campaign, Jesse was honored with a berth in the prestigious Senior Bowl, a match featuring many of the state’s best senior players.
As coach Rich Sheridan said following Jesse’s sophomore year, in reference to the twins, Jesse and Jamie might well have been “the two best forwards in the WCC.”
If soccer was his best sport, basketball was the one for which Jesse is most recalled in New Milford. The game-breaking defensive mayhem caused by Jesse and Jamie was a key ingredient as the crowd-pleasing Green Wave posted a 21-3 record in Jesse’s junior year and 22-5 in his senior season. Many of those games were played before sellout or close to sellout gyms, both home and away.
On a very balanced Green Wave squad, Jesse was a double-figure scorer in 1989-90 and 1990-91, finishing his three-year varsity career with 684 points in 72 games to rank ninth all-time on the NMHS scoring list at graduation. Most impressive was his effectiveness on the fast break and hitting occasional clutch three-pointers to quiet rival rallies.
Jesse and his senior teammates closed their hardcourt careers in style by winning four state class ‘L’ tournament games before bowing in the state championship game to nationally touted Warren Harding of Bridgeport.
Come springtime each of his four years at NMHS, Jesse had plenty of energy left to excel as a 200-meter and 400-meter runner and as an important cog on the Green Wave’s state-class 4 x 100-meter and 4 x 400-meter relay teams. His leg on the 4 x 400 quartet as a frosh helped the Green Wave sew up a WCC team championship.
He closed the book on a productive NMHS track & field career as a senior by contributing to WCC title-winning 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays, and helped add a runnerup finish by the 4 x 400 crew at the state class ‘L’ meet.
Jesse McCullough followed his Green Wave sports career by teaming with brother Jamie to play four seasons of soccer at Hobart College in New York.
