Former USC All-American fullback Sam “Bam” Cunningham died Tuesday in Inglewood at the age of 71.
In a release, USC athletics said that the cause of death is pending.
Cunningham played at USC from 1970-72. During the ’72 season, Cunningham earned All-American honors after rushing for 13 touchdowns and helping to lead USC to a national championship. In the 1973 Rose Bowl, Cunningham scored four touchdowns in a win over Ohio State to earn MVP honors for the game.
In his three-year career, Cunningham rushed for 1,579 yards and 23 touchdowns. The Santa Barbara High graduate was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010, nine years after he was inducted into the USC Athletics Hall of Fame.
But his greatest impact may have come in 1970, when he was a member of USC’s “all-Black” backfield alongside quarterback Jimmy Jones and running back Clarence Davis, the first of its kind in Division I history. Cunningham’s 135-yard, two-touchdown performance in a road win over an all-white Alabama team was often credited with spurring the integration of college football in the South.
“Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years,” Jerry Claiborne, an Alabama assistant coach, would later say of that performance.
“That quote embarrassed Sam to no end, but it was true,” said John Papadakis, a linebacker on that 1970 team. “Sam was naturally humble, so he didn’t think anything of it. He thought if he didn’t run through that hole and score a touchdown, there was something wrong with him.”
Following his college career, Cunningham was selected 11th overall in the 1973 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. He played nine seasons in New England, and his 5,453 career rushing yards are still a franchise record. His 43 rushing touchdowns are second in the Patriots’ record books.
Following his playing career, Cunningham worked in Southern California as a landscaper.
Services are pending at this time.
More to come on this story.
