John Cunningham was the soul of University of San Diego athletics.
Cunningham, who served USD for more than six decades in a wide variety of positions from head baseball coach to assistant basketball coach to bus driver to unofficial greeter, died Saturday night at the age of 88.
“I can honestly say my heart is on this hill,” the native San Diegan said years ago while discussing his long tenure on the USD campus in Alcala Park. “I love this place, the grounds, the people, the architecture. This is where I was meant to be.”
“J.C. had great core values,” current USD baseball coach Brock Ungricht said Monday. “He was everything you value as a coach and more. “He was an educator, a leader and a friend. He truly cared about people. As a coach, he had great values and insight. Keeping his legacy going is at the top of my to-do list.”
Toreros athletic director Kimya Massey called Cunningham “the fabric of what USD is.”
“He is a legend here,” Massey said. “He connected with so many teams and athletes. He was a very special man. Sixty years with the university, that just doesn’t happen. He was revered and respected.”
A 1955 graduate of St. Augustine High School, Cunningham didn’t go directly to USD. He played college basketball and baseball at the University of San Francisco.
A physical 6-foot-5 forward, Cunningham led the Dons in scoring (13.3 points per game) and rebounding (12.2 per game) as a senior in 1958-59, was all-conference in basketball and baseball and was named USF’s Athlete of the Year. After participating in the 1960 U.S. Olympic Basketball Trials as a member of the All-Army Team, Cunningham played briefly in the Baltimore Orioles’ minor league system.
He came “home” to USD in 1962, when USD basketball coach Phil Woolpert — Cunningham’s college coach at USF — offered him a job as his assistant and the head coach of the freshman basketball team.
“I think I pulled the phone off the wall heading out the door,” Cunningham said.
John Cunningham and his USD assistants pose in this undated photo. (USD athletics)
Cunningham took on the added duties as the assistant baseball coach in 1963 and became the head coach in 1964, when founding coach Mike Morrow retired. Cunningham served USD as head baseball coach for 25 seasons, retiring in 1998 with a career 843-839-18 record.
His Toreros teams made two Division II College World Series appearances and reached postseason play four times. Forty-seven of Cunningham’s Toreros played professionally and seven reached the Major Leagues. Led by three-time All-American Kerry Dineen, eight of Cunningham’s players made All-American baseball selections.
John Wathan, who caught at USD under Cunningham and later played and managed the Kansas City Royals, once remembered Cunningham as a key to “my person.”
“J.C. coached me,” said Wathan. “But he also guided me and counseled me when I faced decisions. He was always out in front of himself to help other people, and not just his players.”
Former USD baseball coach John Cunningham has died. (USD athletics)
Cunningham was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1991. He was voted into the St. Augustine High Hall of Fame in 1995 and the USD Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. In 1993, Cunningham was honored by the City Club of San Diego and the Chamber of Commerce as San Diego’s Citizen of the Year. The San Diego Baseball Historical Society named Cunningham as one of the 25 most influential San Diegans involved in baseball. The list includes Ted Williams and Tony Gwynn. The West Coast Conference added Cunningham to its Wall of Honor last year.
Cunningham also coached top area college players every summer for two decades in the California Collegiate League and served for more than a decade as the official scorer at Padres games.
USD named its baseball field after Cunningham in 1988. When the field was renovated in 2013, it was renamed Fowler Park and Cunningham Field.
John Cunningham was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1991. (John Cunningham was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1991. (USD athletics))
Cunningham was a constant presence at USD athletic events, partially because he drove many Toreros teams to away games as the “USD Dept. of Transportation.” Cunningham started driving teams in the mid-60s. He stopped last year after deciding not to renew his commercial bus drivers’ license.
“When I first came to USD, players would carpool to many of our away games,” Cunningham once recalled. “I didn’t think that was the safest of plans. So, based on my background, I talked USD into buying a bus. Because I first learned to drive a bus while serving in the Army, I signed on as a coach-bus driver.
“Over the years, I enjoyed driving the bus for most the USD teams almost as much as coaching. As a bus driver, I got to know a lot of student athletes from other sports. We’ve got great kids on this campus.”
Former USD baseball coach Jim Brovelli once said Cunningham “knew every late-night stop for food on every highway in the West.”
Cunningham took great pride in the USD buses. When not actively coaching or working on field maintenance, he could be found detailing and keeping the vehicles in top shape. “I love it when a former player or USD student sees us on the road and honks or waves,” Cunningham once said. “It’s all connected.”
Cunningham is survived by a son, Geoffrey, a graduate of USD.
No services have been announced.
“We’re hoping to do something here to remember John’s legacy,” Massey said.
Originally Published: September 8, 2025 at 3:54 PM PDT