RIP Sam "Bam" Cunningham

[MTM]

Great running back with USC and New England. I never would have guessed that he's the Patriots all-time leader in rushing yards.

EDIT: Also forgot he's Randall's brother.

USC Football Legend Sam ‘Bam’ Cunningham Dead At 71 – CBS Los Angeles (cbslocal.com)

 

[TigerVols]

Holy crap, he's Randall's brother? Really?

That may have just solved a 30-year mystery for me. The year: 1991. The place: Vendome Deli and Liquor, corner of S. Palm Drive and Olympic in Beverly Hills (now apparently it's a pet food delivery store, because Beverly Hills, but I digress). Time: A Saturday afternoon in early September.

Your man TV is walking into the store to pick up some Saturday-afternoon-going-to-watch-UT-and-Mizzou-football-games provisions and I bump into Randall Cunningham. I mean, I've always been about 96% sure it was Randall Cunningham. And I always thought it was super weird to see him in Beverly Hills on a Saturday the day before the Eagles were slated to play a home game. I later learned that he was either holding out or hurt (I can't remember, so don't hold me to it) so that explained a little as to why he wasn't in Philly on the eve of a game, but I still couldn't figure out what the hell he was doing in the local deli/package store in Beverly Hills.

Now, I'm assuming he was hiding out at his brother's!

 

[maumann]

I remember him more for the 1973 Rose Bowl win over No. 3 Ohio State, where he vaulted over the defensive line four times in the second half for touchdowns. The Buckeyes had no answer for him near the goal line that day. But he could flat-out run over people, too. That '72 team is arguably the best USC team I've ever seen play. So many offensive weapons. So many ways to shut down opponents. I had the Sports Illustrated color cover for many years.

 

[ChrisLong]

So sad. Another classmate. RIP, Mr. Bam.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

He was an excellent player for some pretty bad Pats teams. Some good ones, too, to be fair. Just a real solid pro.

 

[maumann]

Found a chart of the years when each SEC team integrated. Remember, freshmen were ineligible back then, so many played on the school's freshman team before making varsity. Still, to no one's surprise: LSU and Ole Miss didn't budge until 1972.

While integration was already under way, USC's dumptrucking of lily-white 'Bama in 1970 sped up the process. SEC boosters may be racist, but they sure aren't stupid when it comes to doing whatever it takes to win football games.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

RIP to a guy whose stats don’t tell the whole story.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Had no idea he was Randall’s brother.
RIP

 

[MTM]

Found a chart of the years when each SEC team integrated. Remember, freshmen were ineligible back then, so many played on the school's freshman team before making varsity. Still, to no one's surprise: LSU and Ole Miss didn't budge until 1972.

While integration was already under way, USC's dumptrucking of lily-white 'Bama in 1970 sped up the process. SEC boosters may be racist, but they sure aren't stupid when it comes to doing whatever it takes to win football games.

From the LA Times obit

Cunningham was widely known for leading an integrated Trojan squad into Birmingham and scoring two touchdowns in a lopsided win over all-white Alabama. That afternoon became part of legend and, though often embellished in the retelling, served as a crucial moment for a sport that had, in some parts of the country, clung stubbornly to segregation.

“I’m just proud to be a part of it,” Cunningham told The Times in 2016. “Because it was such a special game.”

... Still, in the years after his retirement, it was the Alabama game that people seemed to remember most.

In truth, Crimson Tide coach Paul “Bear” Bryant did not schedule USC in hopes of losing and quieting the segregationists, as has often been said. Nor did he march Cunningham into his locker room afterward to announce: “This is what a football player looks like!”

It was also urban myth that the 42-21 USC victory caused Alabama to recruit its first Black player; the team already had a Black freshman — freshmen were ineligible at that time — on the roster.

But that Saturday afternoon deserves credit. Alabama fans were reportedly dismayed at losing so badly, and Bryant received little pushback when he subsequently signed more Black players.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Found a chart of the years when each SEC team integrated. Remember, freshmen were ineligible back then, so many played on the school's freshman team before making varsity. Still, to no one's surprise: LSU and Ole Miss didn't budge until 1972.

While integration was already under way, USC's dumptrucking of lily-white 'Bama in 1970 sped up the process. SEC boosters may be racist, but they sure aren't stupid when it comes to doing whatever it takes to win football games.

The spark was the success of the mid 60s Michigan State teams, led by George Webster of South Carolina and Texans Bubba Smith and Gene Washington
A couple of documentaries on the team and it’s influence are On the Banks of the Red Cedar and Men of Sparta

 

[maumann]

The spark was the success of the mid 60s Michigan State teams, led by George Webster of South Carolina and Texans Bubba Smith and Gene Washington
A couple of documentaries on the team and it’s influence are On the Banks of the Red Cedar and Men of Sparta

And a barefoot kicker from Hawaii, **** Kenney!

Honolulu Star-Bulletin Sports /2005/02/24/ (starbulletin.com)

Duffy knew how to recruit, that's for sure.

And it's too bad we can't go back and actually play the games, but I've been told -- and based on the number of alumni who starred in the NFL -- Grambling and Florida A&M would have whupped 'Bama worse than USC did.

 

[dixiehack]

Found a chart of the years when each SEC team integrated. Remember, freshmen were ineligible back then, so many played on the school's freshman team before making varsity. Still, to no one's surprise: LSU and Ole Miss didn't budge until 1972.

While integration was already under way, USC's dumptrucking of lily-white 'Bama in 1970 sped up the process. SEC boosters may be racist, but they sure aren't stupid when it comes to doing whatever it takes to win football games.

There’s something of a local cottage industry in stories about that game, most of them untrue.

A few of those stories try to claim Bear Bryant had no interest in integrating his team until USC came to Legion Field and dump-trucked the Tide (disproven by freshman Wilbur Jackson sitting in the stands and also the free hand as athletic director he granted to CM Newton.)

Many more of those stories try to make Bear out to be some undercover agent working a double bank shot to teach the state about healing and reconciliation, even allegedly inviting Cunningham into the Bama locker room postgame to show his guys “what a football player looks like.” (Debunked by multiple interviews of players on the 1970 Crimson Tide.)

The strong implication in both cases is that integration was a happily ever after story that proceeded quickly in the program. I was floored the other month when I heard that Bryant’s 1979 national champions still only had 18 or so black players.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I remember reading somewhere that the black players Bryant first recruited to Alabama reminded him of himself when he was their age.

 

[Songbird]

Holy crap, he's Randall's brother? Really?

That may have just solved a 30-year mystery for me. The year: 1991. The place: Vendome Deli and Liquor, corner of S. Palm Drive and Olympic in Beverly Hills (now apparently it's a pet food delivery store, because Beverly Hills, but I digress). Time: A Saturday afternoon in early September.

Your man TV is walking into the store to pick up some Saturday-afternoon-going-to-watch-UT-and-Mizzou-football-games provisions and I bump into Randall Cunningham. I mean, I've always been about 96% sure it was Randall Cunningham. And I always thought it was super weird to see him in Beverly Hills on a Saturday the day before the Eagles were slated to play a home game. I later learned that he was either holding out or hurt (I can't remember, so don't hold me to it) so that explained a little as to why he wasn't in Philly on the eve of a game, but I still couldn't figure out what the hell he was doing in the local deli/package store in Beverly Hills.

Now, I'm assuming he was hiding out at his brother's!

He went to Santa Barbara High. His senior year they beat my school 35-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

I don't know why but the fact Randall Cunningham and Santa Barbara High are in the same sentence is funny.

 

[LanceyHoward]

The spark was the success of the mid 60s Michigan State teams, led by George Webster of South Carolina and Texans Bubba Smith and Gene Washington
A couple of documentaries on the team and it’s influence are On the Banks of the Red Cedar and Men of Sparta

I know the Michigan State teams were good and Jimmy Raye had to one of the first blacks to start in college football. But other Big 10 schools were recruiting the south in the 60's. Minnesota recruited Bobby Bell and Carl Eller from North Carolina. Woody Hayes was recruiting blacks in the 50's like Jim Parker.

 

[Sea Bass]

I was going to express shock that Randall Cunningham has a 71-year-old brother. But after looking him up, now I’m expressing shock that Randall Cunningham is 58 himself.

 

[ChrisLong]

Holy crap, he's Randall's brother? Really?

That may have just solved a 30-year mystery for me. The year: 1991. The place: Vendome Deli and Liquor, corner of S. Palm Drive and Olympic in Beverly Hills (now apparently it's a pet food delivery store, because Beverly Hills, but I digress). Time: A Saturday afternoon in early September.

Your man TV is walking into the store to pick up some Saturday-afternoon-going-to-watch-UT-and-Mizzou-football-games provisions and I bump into Randall Cunningham. I mean, I've always been about 96% sure it was Randall Cunningham. And I always thought it was super weird to see him in Beverly Hills on a Saturday the day before the Eagles were slated to play a home game. I later learned that he was either holding out or hurt (I can't remember, so don't hold me to it) so that explained a little as to why he wasn't in Philly on the eve of a game, but I still couldn't figure out what the hell he was doing in the local deli/package store in Beverly Hills.

Now, I'm assuming he was hiding out at his brother's!

No, Randall is Sam's brother.

 

[wicked]

RIP. There were few bright spots for the Patriots in those early NFL years. Cunningham, Fairbanks and Hannah, and that's about it.

 

[mpcincal]

RIP. There were few bright spots for the Patriots in those early NFL years. Cunningham, Fairbanks and Hannah, and that's about it.

Chuck Fairbanks leaving the Pats to coach at Colorado is like the football version of McLean Stevenson leaving "M*A*S*H."