‘Fought to live’: Auburn manager Sam Cunningham AUTLIVES cancer

AUBURN, Ala. –  It was Tuesday around noon. Practice was still an hour away. Sam Cunningham was on the main court at Neville Arena, throwing pass after pass to Lior Berman and helping the Auburn senior get shots up before the rest of the team arrived.

There was a time when Cunningham’s dream would have been to be on the receiving end of those passes and getting shots up as a member of the Auburn basketball team. But by simply being out there and helping Berman as one of the team managers, he was fulfilling a different dream. A dream many thought might never happen.

Seven years ago, on March 7, 2017, Cunningham was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia while in the sixth grade. He was your average kid who loved playing baseball and basketball.

“I was a really healthy kid growing up,” he said. “I played sports and was active all the time. To get that news was a real big shock to me.”

Two weeks after the initial diagnosis, Cunningham came down with a fever and ended up in the hospital for the next 83 days. While there, he received a video from Bruce Pearl. The Auburn head coach let Cunningham know he was thinking about him and praying for him, and there was one line specifically that Cunningham kept with him throughout his cancer journey.

“Cancer picked the wrong hombre,” Pearl told Cunningham on the video. “It picked the wrong dude to mess with. You are going to beat this!”

Cunningham, who was a camper at Bruce Pearl’s camp the year before, was reintroduced to Pearl through a cancer organization called Smile-A-Mile in 2018. The two talked for a long time, exchanged phone numbers, and Pearl told Cunningham he would save a spot for him as a manager once he got into college. 

Pearl stayed true to his word.

“He’s very thoughtful, very caring, very supportive,” Cunningham said. “What you hear about him is basically what you get. He’s the greatest person I’ve ever met. Him giving me a spot on the team and keeping up with me through all my treatments is very special.”

“Sam doesn’t want a lot of publicity,” Pearl said. “He just wants to be like anybody else. And that’s what he’s fought to live – to just be a student at Vestavia Hills High School, to outlive his cancer, to have the dream of coming to be a student at Auburn. And yes, with the idea of maybe being one of my managers. Because he loves the game of basketball.

“There were times in his battle with cancer where you might have thought that you’re just filling that kid’s head with false hope, but he’s a man of faith, he’s a man of God, and he believed that he would be here.”

In June 2020, a little more than three years after his initial diagnosis, Cunningham went through what he thought would be his last day of cancer treatment only to find out 17 months later that the cancer had returned. He had not reached remission.

The battle continued. But Cunningham would not let it beat him. He stayed positive.

“When I was in the hospital, I noticed the people that had a bad attitude about it really didn’t do well through the cancer treatment,” he said. “I saw me getting diagnosed with cancer as a positive thing. What God has allowed to happen, it’s a good thing for me to take it, battle it and come out a better man from it.”

Two months after the relapse, Pearl invited Cunningham to practice the week of the AUTLIVE game. Cunningham spoke to the team, telling them about his journey. He watched the game that year in his hospital room and saw his name on some of the AUTLIVE placards that the players and coaches were holding up. 

Pearl was holding up multiple cards with the names of both Sam Cunningham and Dick Vitale written on them. He had the card with Cunningham's name on top. 

“I liked how you had my name above Dick Vitale’s name,” Cunningham told him after the game. 

“You think I would put you below Dick Vitale? You’re my No. 1, Sam,” Pearl responded. 

The AUTLIVE game has taken on a different meaning for Cunningham through the years as he’s gone through his own battle with cancer.

“It really means a lot to me because it feels like the guys are playing for people like me who are going through a cancer battle,” he said. “They’re playing on the court for us for that game. Watching from the hospital room, it felt like they were playing for me. Seeing the guys with my name on their signs, it’s really special.”

For the players, the annual tradition has become more than just a sign they hold up with a name written on it. Especially when “Sam” was written on their sign. Cunningham is someone they have grown close to over the years. They have seen his battle firsthand.

Senior forward Jaylin Williams remembers his freshman year at Auburn when Cunningham attended practice while going through his first bout with cancer. Now, five years later, Williams gets to work with Cunningham every day in practice and understands what he’s been through to get to this point.

“I know a few years ago when I first saw Sam, he didn’t look too well,” Williams said. “But we knew he was going to fight through it. I know his parents were strong. BP supported him a lot. He used to come around and watch our practices. But now it’s a whole different Sam. We kick it around with him, joke around with him. He rebounds for us. He comes on road trips sometimes. He hands BP the score sheet.

“Sam couldn’t do that a few years ago, and I think that’s a blessing that God gave us as a team to have someone like him so special to this staff.”

This year’s AUTLIVE game is Saturday against Kentucky. It will be extra special for Cunningham. Not only is it the first AUTLIVE game he will attend as one of the team managers, but it will also be the first AUTLIVE game he’ll attend since he was declared cancer free on March 16, 2022.

But Cunningham doesn’t want the spotlight on him. He’s more than happy to be the one making passes to the players before practice and letting them shine.

“He’s doing his job,” Pearl said. “He’s a 4.0 student. He is in here all day, every day rebounding the basketball for our guys. He’s not trying to be anybody’s poster child. He’s trying to be the best Auburn basketball manager he can.”

“Being around this team is super special because not a lot of people get to do something like this,” Cunningham said. “I’m lucky to be in this position.”