He starred as an athlete at Danville High School, started as a defensive back in the Rose Bowl and returned to his roots to coach the Vikings.
Nate Cunningham, who passed away earlier this week at age 75, built quite a legacy in Danville.
A three-sport standout (football, basketball and baseball) with the Vikings, Mr. Cunningham took his talents to Indiana. He was a regular for the 1967 Hoosiers, the only team in school history to play in the Rose Bowl.
O.J. Simpson scored two touchdowns in a 14-3 Southern Cal victory at Pasadena, Calif. That was Mr. Cunningham’s junior year.
As a senior, he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, helping John Pont’s Hoosiers to a second consecutive winning season. What’s the big deal? In the 19 previous years, Indiana had only one plus-.500 campaign. Mr. Cunningham and his teammates briefly turned the place into a football school.
“He was a hero for us when we were young kids,” said B.J. Luke, a Danville native who then went on to coach the Vikings’ football and track and field programs, along with serving as Danville’s athletic director. “He was a great player for Danville High and also on a very good basketball team that Danville had. He was a guy who we always read about and watched him.”
Seeing a former Viking in the Rose Bowl was a point of pride for Luke and his classmates.
“Back in those days, you didn’t get on TV but once a year if you were a great team,” Luke said.
After finishing at Indiana, Mr. Cunningham returned to Danville as defensive coordinator. Luke was a sophomore football player with the Vikings at the time.
“No. 1, he was a tough guy,” Luke said. “He had a plan and you wanted to play hard for him. You knew he was going to be successful.
“As kids, we were excited to have a guy of that stature come back and coach us.”
In 1985, Mr. Cunningham became the first Black head football coach at Danville.
“It was a big deal to the community,” Luke said. “For the people that knew him, it was just something that was expected. He was going to be that guy at some point.”
The Vikings went 8-2 in Mr. Cunningham’s first year in charge, earning one of his seven playoff bids in 14 seasons.
Mr. Cunningham used an attacking defense.
“He brought the heat all the time with the blitzes,” Luke said. “He seemed to have a feel for stopping the opponents’ best weapon. In those days, we were pretty salty too.”
Mr. Cunningham finished his career with an 81-53 record. Only Paul Shebby had more wins as Danville’s football coach.
Welcome homeLuke coached Danville to seven playoff appearances from 2006-17.
When he first returned to Danville after working in the Chicago suburbs, Luke got reacquainted with Mr. Cunningham.
“It was fun being able to visit with him about the old days,” Luke said. “Those were great days. His brother (Henry) played with us. He was an outstanding player for us.”
Early in his coaching career, Luke would bump into his former coach at clinics.
“It was always fun to touch base with him,” Luke said. “It was big for me to open up the newspaper and see all the success they were having when he was coaching.”
Luke said Mr. Cunningham was “community minded. Really a guy people could count on. That’s a big deal when you are in the position he was in.”
Currently, Danville has two graduates (Caleb Griffin and Julian Pearl) playing prominent roles on the Illinois football team. Mr. Cunningham wanted the Vikings represented at Illinois and beyond.
Over the years, Mr. Cunningham sent a string of players to play in college, including Northern Illinois star quarterback Stacey Robinson.
“That’s a big thing coming from Danville is having that opportunity to go and play somewhere and go to school,” Luke said. “He did a good job with that.”
Luke now lives in Georgia near his children R.J. and Ashley, both of whom are both successful prep coaches. B.J. serves as an assistant girls’ basketball coach to Ashley at Norcross, a suburb of Atlanta. And he is also a tight end/fullback coach at North Gwinnett, where R.J. is on the football staff.
Quiet confidenceI first met Mr. Cunningham in 1989 and would see him once or twice a season over the next five years.
Danville is an important part of The News-Gazette’s sports coverage and one of the most successful programs among the larger schools in the area.
In the 1990 Class 6A playoffs, the Vikings drew a first-round home game against powerhouse East St. Louis. Coach Bob Shannon and his team of stars rolled the Vikings 61-0.
I don’t have the newspaper clipping to prove it, but I remember talking to Mr. Cunningham afterward. He obviously was disappointed, but answered my questions and promised his team would learn from the loss.
Win or lose, Mr. Cunningham was always a pleasant interview subject. He understood it was part of his job and made sure all pertinent questions were answered.
I’d see Mr. Cunningham on the sidelines at basketball games too. He was an assistant coach with the Vikings and seemed to enjoy the freedom of not being the boss.
Rest easy, Mr. Cunningham.
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