By Jim Foley
Special to the Irish American Post 

Ever wish you could go back to freshman year and start high school all over again? What if you promised yourself you’d be more focused, study harder, get better SAT scores and take honors classes? You’d play one sport and excel at it, you’d make academics a priority, a B would be unacceptable, you’d spend your free time practicing or working out, you wouldn’t think about girls, or at least not until after studying three hours a night. 

Conor Mullen is this kind of young man. At 6’6, 205 pounds, this lanky 17-year-old with an emerald twinkle in his eye, is one of those rare exceptions to the adage that youth is wasted on the young. 

Mullen is starting small forward for the O’Dea Fighting Irish, an all-boys school founded by Irish Christian Brothers in Seattle, Wash., and one of the best basketball players in the state. 

As a junior, he averaged 16 points a game for a team that was top ranked in the West Coast by USA Today. In the regional playoffs, he scored 22 points enroute to his class 3A-state championship; personally earning 1st team All-Metro and 2nd team All-State honors as well as an invitation to the West Coast All-Star Camp. The AAU Rotary Select team that he currently plays with this summer has been ranked second in the nation after winning tournaments in Las Vegas and Indiana. 

By the way, has it been mentioned that he has a 3.9 grade point average and a very high SAT score. So there is the question as to how he has been able to stay focused among all the distractions of high school.

"My family always expected me to shoot for the best," said Mullen, the youngest son of a large Irish Catholic family. Mullen’s mother, father, three older brothers and two older sisters have made it clear from the beginning, "basically nothing less than an A was acceptable and you better play basketball –well!" 

These values that led him to be valedictorian of his 8th grade, to attend a high school with an excellent reputation, to aim at getting a scholarship to a prestigious school as good or better than Notre Dame, Georgetown or Marquette, all universities that his brothers and sisters have attended. 

A commitment to playing basketball six out of seven days a week, lift weights three times a week, Mullen never watches TV. "Something’s got to go," he says, "I get my time in b-ball and academics first, like it’s my job." 

Being in the top 1% of his class, combined with all his athletic accomplishments, one might think that the kid has a big head. On the contrary, Mullen is humble, almost soft-spoken. "Any successes go back to my family," he said. "I’ve always had rides everywhere, to practice and games three or four times a week. My older brothers taught me how to play in the driveway, to think of winning but continuously emphasized getting good grades." 

The hard work has already started to pay off in the flood of college recruitment letters. Conor has received letters of interest from Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Pepperdine, USD, Santa Clara, UC Irvine -- all big time schools who have been as impressed by his stats on the court as well as in the classroom. This summer’s AAU tourneys will be crucial in determining his options, as many college coaches will have their first opportunity to watch Conor compete against major West Coast talent. 

But as if to remind us that he’s still only a high school junior and dedicated to his team first, Mullen made it clear that the O’Dea Fighting Irish aren’t going away. "We haven’t lost many players and with our current talent level, "we are going to be legit contenders for the state title again next year," he says. "It’s a great school with a great football reputation, so I’m happy to be contributing to its newly acquired basketball reputation."

What is the heritage link with a name like Conor Mullen? What does this young Irish American man have in store for himself? "One of my goals is to visit Ireland, maybe study there during a college year abroad, like my brother Dan did (at University of College-Dublin). It is definitely very important to me." 

But when asked how being of Irish lineage has shaped who he is, Conor starts talking about his pop: Brian Mullen, a literate man who once acted in The Hostage, a play by Brendan Behan and has recently finished a definitive biography of James Joyce. 

"My Pop makes sure I know that I’m Irish. We have a bunch of Irish proverbs and limericks around the house, a shamrock for a key chain, things like that. I guess you could say my brothers and I look Irish. Even my name, Conor was the most popular name for boy’s born in Ireland last year." 

When asked which of the Irish influences had stuck with him, Mullen replied, "Going to an Irish Christian Brothers school is always interesting, especially if you have a name like Conor Mullen. One of the Brothers likes to tell me that I’m going to end up being a stubborn old Irishman. I guess it fits. An old Irishman forgets everything except his grudges." 

As a still young Irishman and teenager, Mullen looks up to his older brothers because they paved a way for him to help understand who he is and what he is capable of. Mullen is interested in a future of sports medicine and or sports-related business. 

Either way, with his attitude and work ethic, Conor Mullen will continue to reach his goals and make his family proud. So watch out for this Irish youngster, he is on the prowl and will beat any expectations.