Billy Cunningham
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William John "Billy" Cunningham (born June 3, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid.
Beginnings
Billy Cunningham was born in Brooklyn, New York. His fame began while he was playing in high school at Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, where he was the MVP in the Brooklyn League in 1961. That year, he was the First-Team All-New York City, and a member of the Parade Magazine All-America Team.College career
Cunningham then went to the University of North Carolina, where he excelled. He once grabbed a record 27 rebounds in a game vs. Clemson on February 16, 1963. Cunningham also set a single-game North Carolina record with 48 points against Tulane on December 10, 1964. In his UNC career, he scored 1,709 points (24.8 points per game), and grabbed 1,062 rebounds (15.4 rebounds per game). Upon graduation, his 1,062 rebounds were the best in North Carolina history and he held seasonal records for most rebounds (379 in 1964) and rebound average (16.1 in 1963).Honors and achievements
- 3-year letter winner (in his day, freshmen were ineligible for varsity athletics)
- All-Atlantic Coast Conference (1963–65)
- ACC Player of the Year (1965)
- All-ACC Tournament Team (1963–64)
- ACC Academic All-Conference (1965)
- A USBWA All-America (1964–65)
- Helms Foundation All-America (1965)
- Sporting News All-America 2nd team (1965)
- Team Captain (1965)
- Played in the East-West Game in 1965
- Played at the World University Games in 1965
Pro basketball career
In 1965, Cunningham joined the Philadelphia 76ers as a sixth man and played well enough to score 16,310 points and grabbed 7,981 rebounds in both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the American Basketball Association (ABA).Cunningham is well-known for coaching the 76ers to the 1983 NBA Championship. Cunningham also played on the powerful 1967 Sixers championship team (featuring Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Luke Jackson).
In 1972, he joined the Carolina Cougars of the ABA and with it, he was an ABA All-Star first Team in 1973, and was named the ABA MVP that same year.
After his playing days were done, he became the head coach of the 76ers on November 4, 1977, and built a great team featuring the likes of Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Moses Malone, and of course Julius Erving. He led Philadelphia to 3 Atlantic Division Titles in 1978, 1981, and 1983. He reached the 200, 300, and 400-win milestone faster than any coach in NBA history. Upon his retirement, his 454 wins as a head coach were the 12th best in NBA history.
Beyond playing and coaching
In 1987, Cunningham replaced Tom Heinsohn as the lead color commentator (alongside play-by-play man Dick Stockton) for CBS's NBA telecasts. Cunningham would leave CBS Sports the following season to join the Miami Heat expansion franchise as a minority owner; Cunningham ultimately sold his interest of the Heat on August 12, 1994. Cunningham was subsequently replaced on CBS by Hubie Brown.Honors
- Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1986)
- All-NBA First Team (1969, 1970, 1971)
- All-NBA Second Team (1972)
- Four-time All-Star
- One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996)
- His number 32 jersey is retired by the Philadelphia 76ers; however, he un-retired it for Charles Barkley to wear for the 1991–92 NBA season. Barkley normally wore the number 34, but switched to 32 in honor of Magic Johnson, who had announced at the start of the season that he was HIV-positive.
External links
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