September 12, 1970: The Sam Cunningham Game

September 12, 1970, 50 years ago: The University of Southern California, a.k.a. USC, takes the field at Legion Field in Birmingham, the secondary home field of the University of Alabama. They do so with the 1st all-black backfield in college football history, outside of historically black schools: Quarterback Jimmy Jones and running backs Clarence Davis and Sam Cunningham. 'Bama had been forced to racially integrate by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, but still hadn't fielded a single black football player. Of the schools then in the Southeastern Conference, Alabama's arch-rival Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt had; Georgia, Louisiana State (a.k.a. LSU) and Mississippi (a.k.a. Ole Miss) also had not. To be fair, Paul "Bear" Bryant had tried hard to recruit Frank Dowsing to be Alabama's 1st black player in 1969, but, a Mississippi native, he chose Mississippi State instead, becoming their 1st. So the Crimson Tide put an all-white team out against the USC Trojans. Sam Cunningham runs for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns. USC beats 'Bama 42-21. The Bear knew he couldn't send an all-white team out anymore. Jerry Claiborne, an assistant to Bryant at Texas A&M and Alabama, was head coach at Virginia Tech at the time, and later at Maryland and Kentucky, said, "Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King Jr. did in 20 years." Ironically, in the next off-season, Bryant played golf with USC coach John McKay, who mentioned he had a commitment from a junior college transfer from Alabama, defensive end John Mitchell. Bryant got him to switch. He even became one of Bear's assistant coaches, and has been on the Pittsburgh Steelers' staff since 1994. "Sam Bam" Cunningham helped USC win the National Championship in 1972. He spent the next 10 seasons with the New England Patriots, rushing for 5,453 yards and making the 1978 Pro Bowl. Despite all their success in the last 20 years, he is still their all-time leading rusher. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and the Patriots elected him to their team Hall of Fame.

But if not for that game in Birmingham in 1970, he would now be known as the older brother of the great Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham, who played his college ball at Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). The other members of that USC backfield? Jones played in the Canadian Football League, and helped the Montreal Alouettes win their championship, the Grey Cup, in 1974. Although less regarded in college than Cunningham, Davis had a better pro career, helping the Oakland Raiders win Super Bowl XI in 1977.

UPDATE: Sam Cunningham died on September 7, 2021.