USC legend Sam Cunningham and his unintentional legacy

Before practice Tuesday, the USC running backs room took a break from preparations for Saturday’s Pac-12 opener against Stanford for a brief history lesson.

Former USC All-American fullback Sam “Bam” Cunningham had died earlier in the day at the age of 71. And after learning more about his impact on the history of the game from receivers coach Keary Colbert and director of player development Gavin Morris, running backs coach Mike Jinks wanted to impart that on his position group.

“Just kind of telling some of the backstory on what he just meant, not just to this university, to this city and the state,” Jinks said.

Cunningham’s impact on the trajectory of college football began as soon as his sophomore year when the Trojans went to Alabama and beat the Crimson Tide 42-21 on Sept. 12, 1970. But what otherwise would have been a forgettable win in a down 6-4-1 season for the Trojans was immortalized. Cunningham, a Black man, ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns against the all-white Crimson Tide.

His play in that game was often credited with accelerating the integration of college football at Alabama and in the South in general.

But Cunningham never went to Birmingham with the intention of making that kind of impact.

“Things fell into place that evening and history was made,” said Jimmy Jones, the Trojans quarterback in the all-Black backfield alongside Cunningham and halfback Clarence Davis.

Cunningham was not even the starter entering the game. It was the first game of his sophomore season, and he was the backup fullback. There was no way to know if he was going to play at all, let alone come away as one of the star players of the season opener.

But he entered the game early and after his first couple runs, it was clear he was going to have a major impact on the outcome.

The next year, after Alabama head coach Bear Bryant spent much of the 1960s trying to integrate his team but running into opposition from inside and outside the university, the Crimson Tide had its first Black varsity player in John Mitchell.

Whenever Cunningham and Jones would reminisce in later years, the win over Alabama was always top of mind.

“He was humbled by it, like most of us who were fortunate enough to participate in that game,” Jones said. “The effects of the game long-term after the game, I think it took on more meaning for all of us than it did actually when we accomplished it. We had no idea it was going to have the kind of significance that it had on the landscape of the SEC and the landscape of college football as a whole.

“Nothing changed his personality going into that game. He was going to be Sam Cunningham regardless of what the outside influences were.”

That was Jones’ first impression when Cunningham enrolled at USC out of Santa Barbara High. He was not a vocal leader. He just wanted to get to know the system under head coach John McKay and blend in with the locker room.

That was difficult, though, given Cunningham’s build and athletic abilities, coming in fresh off a state championship at Santa Barbara in shot put.

“Big, naturally strong, built like Superman, gentle smile. Just a very nice person when he first stepped on campus as a freshman,” Jones recalls. “Not a real braggadocious kind of guy, just a nice guy. I think that would sum Sam up in a nutshell for his whole life.”

Success followed for Cunningham. Following the 1972 season, he scored a Rose Bowl-record four touchdowns to earn MVP honors in the win over Ohio State that capped the Trojans’ 12-0 national championship year. He was the 11th pick in the next NFL draft and went on to set the New England Patriots’ franchise rushing yards record.

He would go on to be inducted in the College Football, USC Athletics, Rose Bowl and Patriots Halls of Fame.

But when Cunningham’s legacy, and the legacy of his teammates at the time, was taught to the USC running backs Tuesday, it was the trailblazing game against Alabama that dominated the discourse.

“Very humbled, very honored to be a part of that,” Jones said. “We can’t take a lot of credit for that. Just had to be born at the right time in the right place and we were the ones who had the chance to participate. Now we’re the ones who have the chance to look back and feel pretty good about that moment.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Cunningham was a sophomore in the Alabama game. (Freshmen were ineligible at the time).