Gary Cunningham is an American former
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head men's basketball coach at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
(UCLA) from 1977 to 1979, guiding the
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...
to a 50–8 record in two seasons. UCLA won conference championships and finished with a #2 ranking in the final polls both seasons. Cunningham has the highest winning percentage of any coach in UCLA men's basketball history (.862).
Cunningham played basketball at UCLA on the varsity team from 1960 to 1962. He played in the first Final Four appearance for the Bruins in the
1962 NCAA tournament. He appeared on the cover of ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' on March 19, 1962.
A SURPRISE BID BY UCLA'S BRUINS
. Sports Illustrated - March 19, 1962 Cunningham was selected by the Cincinnati Royals
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...
in the seventh round as the 58th pick of the 1962 NBA draft.
Cunningham was an assistant coach at UCLA under John Wooden
John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head ...
from 1965 to 1975. In 1965 he was the coach of the UCLA freshman team that featured high school All-Americans Lew Alcindor
Lew or LEW may refer to:
People
* Lew (given name)
* Lew (surname)
Places
* Lew, Oxfordshire, England
* River Lew, in Devon, England
Transport
* LEW Hennigsdorf, a rail vehicle factory in Hennigsdorf, Germany
* Lew (locomotive), a British narro ...
and Lucius Allen
Lucius Oliver Allen, Jr. (born September 26, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player. He is one of only a select few players to have won at least one state championship, collegiate national championship, and NBA championship. ...
. The freshmen defeated the UCLA varsity, rated number-one in the nation, by a score of 75 to 60 in the first game ever played at Pauley Pavilion
Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. The men ...
.
Cunningham retired in the summer of 2008 after 13 years as the athletic director
An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...
at the University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
.
Head coaching record
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Gary
1940s births
Year of birth uncertain
Living people
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from California
Basketball players from California
Cincinnati Royals draft picks
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Fresno State Bulldogs athletic directors
UCLA Bruins men's basketball coaches
UCLA Bruins men's basketball players
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos athletic directors
Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls athletic directors