Sam Cunningham, USC player who helped integrate college football, dies at 71

Sam “Bam” Cunningham, the Hall of Fame running back from USC credited with helping integrate college football in the early 1970s, died Tuesday. He was 71.

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.”

Born in Santa Barbara in 1950, Cunningham played fullback at USC, using his size and strength to earn that nickname with bruising goal-line dives. He was an All-American in 1972, a season in which he scored four touchdowns in the Rose Bowl and the Trojans went undefeated to win the national championship.

The New England Patriots selected Cunningham in the first round of the 1973 NFL Draft, the start of a nine-year pro career that saw him retire with a team-record 5,453 yards and Pro Bowl honors in 1978.

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.

Cunningham, who worked as a landscape contractor after his football career, died in Inglewood. He is survived by his wife, Cine, and daughter, Samahndi. His brother, Randall, was a standout NFL quarterback.

Fullback Sam Cunningham, left, and running back Anthony Davis embrace in the locker room after USC’s 42-17 triumph over Ohio State in the 1973 Rose Bowl game.

(Associated Press)

In his later years, the former USC star dismissed any talk of him and his team as heroes.

“We’re just regular people,” he said. “I didn’t do anything more than what I was asked to do. Run the ball. If there’s a hole, run through it. If you can score a touchdown, score a touchdown. Bam. Pretty simple to me.”