Sam Cunningham, who starred at USC and in NFL, dies at 71

Cunningham died at his home in Inglewood, according to USC, which spoke to his wife, Cine

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Cunningham's older brother, Randall, starred as a quarterback inside the NFL for 16 years.

As a sophomore in 1970, Cunningham turned into a part of USC's all-Black backfield, along with quarterback Jimmy Jones and going for walks again Clarence Davis, which became the primary of its kind in Division I.

Cunningham ran for 135 yards on 12 incorporates and scored  touchdowns in the Trojans' 42-21 rout of predominantly white Alabama in Birmingham to open that season. His overall performance changed into credited with having inspired the college and instruct Bear Bryant to broadly recruit extra Black players and absolutely combine the game in the South.

"What they saw become the future," Cunningham advised ESPN in 2016. "Their team become in the end going to be integrated."

Jerry Claiborne, a former Bryant assistant, famously stated, "Sam Cunningham did greater to combine Alabama in 60 mins than Martin Luther King did in two decades."

Cunningham earned All-American honors in 1972, while he captained the Trojans to a national championship. His file four goal-line TD dives in opposition to Ohio State within the 1973 Rose Bowl earned him sport MVP honors. He became inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1992.

He ran for 1,579 yards and 23 touchdowns in his profession, which include thirteen TDs in 1972.

Cunningham was taken 11th normal inside the first round of the 1973 NFL draft by using the Patriots. He became the franchise's career main rusher with five,453 yards, even as also catching 210 passes for 1,905 yards. He scored 49 touchdowns — 43 on the floor.

He became a Pro Bowl choice in 1978, when the Patriots set an NFL document for speeding yards as a crew with three,one hundred sixty five. The mark stood until 2019, when it became broken through the Baltimore Ravens.

Cunningham completed his 9-year profession in New England with 5,453 rushing yards, 210 receptions for 1,905 yards, and 49 touchdowns.

"Sam ‘Bam' Cunningham changed into one among my favourite gamers during the ‘70s and my sons all cherished him," stated Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, who sold the group in 1994. "As an awful lot as I well-known him as a player, my affection for him only grew after spending time with him and gaining knowledge of extra about him as a person. He made a amazing impact, both on and rancid the field, and became beloved with the aid of his teammates."

Cunningham became inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010, the same 12 months he went into the Patriots Hall of Fame. He also was a member of the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.

After his gambling profession, Cunningham worked as a landscape contractor in California. He was born and raised in Santa Barbara.

Besides his spouse, he's survived with the aid of daughter Samahndi, brothers Randall, Bruce and Anthony, niece Vashti Cunningham, a international champion excessive jumper, and nephew Randall II.

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