Elijah William Cunningham (1896 – April 17, 1960) was an American sportswriter and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and coach. Cunningham was born in 1896, in Pattonville, Texas. He moved with his parents to

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River Co ...

and then to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

as a child and graduated from Dallas' Terrill School for Boys in 1915. Cunningham then attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, where he played football before graduating in 1921. He was a second-team selection to the

1920 College Football All-America Team The 1920 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1920. The four selectors recognized by the N ...

as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served in France with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

as a first lieutenant of artillery. Returning to Dallas, he was hired by the local ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' after graduation to be a general assignments reporter. While working for the ''Morning News'', he was also allowed to be an assistant football coach for the 1921 SMU Mustangs. Two games into the season, head coach

J. Burton Rix John Burton Rix (March 24, 1882 – August 8, 1964) was an American football and basketball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Austin College (1909–1910), Southwestern University (1914–1916), Southern Methodist Universi ...

resigned, and SMU named Cunningham as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. He remained an employee of the ''Morning News'' while coaching the Mustangs. The team finished with a 1–6–1 record and after the season, as planned,

Ray Morrison J. Ray Morrison (February 28, 1885 – November 19, 1982) was an American football and baseball player and a coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (1915–1916, 1922– ...

took over as coach for the upcoming 1922 season. In 1922, the ''

Boston Post ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before it folded in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston, Massachusetts, Boston businessmen, Charles Gordon Greene, Charles G. Gr ...

'' newspaper asked Cunningham to be a guest reporter covering the fall football game between

Centre College Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...

and

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. The game was a major upset victory for Texas A&M. After filing his report with the ''Post'', the paper offered him a full-time reporting job in Boston, which he accepted and where he remained for 19 years. He then spent another 19 years at the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

.'' He became a well-regarded, nationally known sportswriter, columnist and reporter during his almost 40 years in Boston. Cunningham died on April 17, 1960, at his home in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

Head coaching record

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Bill 1896 births 1960 deaths 20th-century American male writers SMU Mustangs football coaches Dartmouth Big Green football players United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War I People from Paris, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Dallas Sportspeople from Newton, Massachusetts Journalists from Dallas Journalists from Massachusetts Writers from Newton, Massachusetts Sportswriters from Massachusetts Sportswriters from Texas The Boston Post people