Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 11, 2012

19

SPORTS

 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 11, 2012 


FOND MEMORIES OF 

RANDALL CUNNINGHAM

HUDDLE UP!

 
I’m not writing 
about the Lakers this 
week, even though 
I had mentioned in 
last week’s column 
that I would. Here’s 
why. Since leaving 
coaching, I have 
enjoyed watching 
many of my former 
staff and players as they continued on in football 
or moved into business and service professions. 
One of those young men is my former 
quarterback at UNLV, Randall Cunningham, 
who went on to a highly successful 16-year NFL 
career. 

 In Indianapolis the day before the Super Bowl, 
Randall was presented with the NFL Alumni 
Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 
community service. Randall told the Las Vegas 
Review Journal he was surprised by the award 
because he never talks about his charity work. 
“Everything I do is behind the scenes,” he said. 

 Randall, who turns 49 on March 27, is a strong 
Christian, and quiet about his accomplishments. 
When he was with the Philadelphia Eagles, 
he financially backed the construction of a 
15,000-square-foot youth facility for a church 
in Camden, N.J., that included a basketball gym 
and classrooms.

 He is currently the pastor at the very well-
attended Las Vegas-based Remnant Ministries. 
In fact, he plans to move his church from its 
current 17,500 square-foot building to an 
80,000 square-foot facility within six months. 
That building will include a basketball gym, 
athletic and workout facilities, three sanctuaries, 
a wedding chapel and a full kitchen. 

 He is also a youth coach of football and track 
and field for his son and for Bishop Gorman 
High School. His son Randall II is also a 
quarterback. And,while only a freshman, won 
the state high jump title with a leap of 6-foot-
8. Athletically, he seems to be following in his 
father’s footsteps. Randall thinks he’s even 
better, but we’ll see. 

 Randall was a delight to coach and usually a 
lot of fun. However, I vividly recall his junior 
year when he came into my office, sat down and 
said, “I’m coming out early.”

 Of course I turned pale but calmly said, 
“Randall, you have to do what you have to do.” 
He had just lost both of his parents, and this was 
an important decision for him.

 The truth is I was devastated. I didn’t sleep 
a wink that night. The next day he returned to 
my office looking sad and said, “Coach, I need 
to talk to you again.” He walks over to me and 
says, “Hey, I’m not leaving. I was just kidding,” 
and gave me a big hug. He’s lucky he survived 
that incident. I could have killed him.

 I was the coach of the West all-stars 
in the 1984 Japan Bowl and Randall was 
our starting quarterback. Doug Flutie 
of Boston College who had just won 
the Heisman Trophy was the East all-
stars’ starting quarterback. During the 
game, Randall threw an interception 
and then ran across the entire field 
to make the tackle. As he came to the 
bench, I grabbed him and said, “You 
realize how many pro scouts are here? 
That’s the worst thing you could have 
done.” He said, “Sorry coach, I thought 
the receiver was open.” I said, “I’m not 
talking about the interception. I’m 
talking about you running that guy 
down. Now they’re going to want to 
make you a safety.”

 Randall’s football achievements 
at UNLV are unmatched. He still 
owns school career passing records. 
He threw for 8,020 yards and 59 
touchdowns from 1982 to 1984. 
On draft day on April of 1985, Randall 
waited in my office. The first round 
finished and he wasn’t drafted. He said, 
“Coach, they don’t want me.” I said, “They sure 
should.” He took off and went shopping or 
something.

 After he left, Lynn Stiles, an assistant coach 
for the Eagles, called and said, “Coach, now tell 
me. We’ll draft him based on your comments.” I 
said, “If you don’t take him, he’ll beat you.” His 
answer was, “I’ll get fired if he doesn’t make it.” I 
said, “You’re going to get a pay raise.”

 They made a wise decision. While with the 
Eagles, Randall was the NFL’s MVP in 1990 after 
passing for 3,466 yards and 30 touchdowns. In 
1998, he led the Minnesota Vikings to a 15-1 
regular-season record and helped them advance 
to the NFC championship game.

 The honor bestowed on Randall Cunningham 
by the NFL Alumni Association was well 
deserved, and shows that good things can 
happen to good people.


By Harvey Hyde

Randall Cunningham at UNLV (right) and as an alumni encouraging children in 2011.

Photos courtesy of Las Vegas Sun


2012 MOUNT WILSON TRAIL RACE INFORMATION

Get Ready for the 2012 
Mount Wilson Trail 
Race with Team CrossFit 
Academy!

The 2012 race will be here 
before you know it: 

Saturday, May 26.

Coach Eric LeClair and Team CrossFit 
Academy will be returning for their 
seventh year to provide free Saturday 
morning training runs for this 
challenging event for any interested 
trail runner. The training is a 16-week 
program designed with three different 
ability groups.: Beginner, Intermediate, 
and Advanced. The first training 
session will begin Saturday morning, 
February 4th at 7:00A in Kersting 
Court. It is recommended that all 
interested runners begin their training 
on this date; each Saturday morning 
will feature a different training run.

Coach LeClair has had hundreds of 
runners and racers within the ranks 
of the training team over the past six 
years. The training program has been 
so successful that it has resulted in over 
20 Top 3 finisher medals!

From the beginning trail runner to the 
experienced veteran racer, all will be 
welcomed into this fun group and will 
be assisted in accomplishing his or her 
desired goal. To contact Coach Eric 
LeClair or Team CrossFit Academy 
directly, please call 626-437-8739 or 
search for either on Facebook.

Registration

Registration for the 2012 Mount Wilson 
Trail Race will begin on Monday, March 
5 at 9:00am. Registration is available 
online at www.cityofsierramadre.
com/onlineregistration. Runners 
are encouraged to register as soon 
as possible as space is limited. The 
MWTR sells out on an annual basis, be 
sure to reserve your spot for 2012! For 
more information please visit www.
mountwilsontrailrace.com or contact 
the Community Services Office at 
626.355.5278.