Happy 82nd Birthday, Billy Cunningham

Photo credit: Getty Images, 1970 Focus on Sport

An NBA legend celebrates a birthday on June 3 as former Philadelphia 76er Billy Cunningham turns 82. 

A Brooklyn, N.Y. native, Cunningham attended Erasmus Hall from 1957-1961. As a senior, he was Public Schools Athletic League Champion, was All-City, and the 1960-61 Brooklyn Player of the Year. 

In three seasons at the University of North Carolina, Cunningham averaged 24.8 points and 15.4 rebounds. As a sophomore, he averaged 16.1 rebounds (22.7 points) and averaged 26.0 points and 15.8 rebounds as a junior and 25.4 points and 14.3 rebounds as a senior. He was All-ACC in each season, was twice named to the ACC All-Tournament team. In 1964-65, he was the ACC Player of the Year. 

Cunningham was the 7th overall pick in the 1965 NBA Draft, a draft that included Hall of Famers Bill Bradley, Rick Barry, Gail Goodrich, and Jerry Sloan. 

For his first three seasons, the 6 foot, 8 inch Cunningham averaged 15 shots per game, and as a rookie his 14.3 points and 7.5 rebounds were good enough to finish second in Rookie of the Year voting. Wilt Chamberlain, in his 1973 autobiography when talking about the 1965-66 76ers squad, said “rookie Billy Cunningham, who soon became the best forward in the NBA in my book.” Chamberlain also remarked how tight the group would become, saying that Cunningham and Chet Walker were close friends and that Cunningham and Hal Greer were golfing buddies. Togetherness is a paramount quality on any title team. 

In his second and third seasons, Cunningham averaged 18.5 points (7.3 rebounds) and 18.9 points (7.6 rebounds). As a second year player, he was the reliable sixth man on the 1967 Philadelphia championship team that won 68 games and was anchored by Chamberlain along with Greer, Walker, Wali Jones, and Luke Jackson.

After Chamberlain was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in July of 1968, Cunningham saw an increased role. The Kangaroo Kid’s minutes leapt from 28 to 41, and his shots from 16 to 21. He played all 82 games and averaged 24.8 points and 12.8 rebounds. An All-Star for the first time, Cunningham made 1st team All-NBA and finished third in MVP voting behind Wes Unseld and Willis Reed. The 76ers won 55 games and lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division Semifinals 4 games to 1. 

Over the next three seasons, Cunningham averaged a career-high 26.1 points and 13.6 rebounds (4.3 assists), 23.0 points and 11.7 rebounds (4.9 assists), and 23.3 points and 12.9 rebounds (5.9 assists). He made All-NBA 1st team in 1969-70 and 1970-71, and in 1971-72 made 2nd team All-NBA. He had two top 10 MVP finishes in that span, fifth-place in 1970 and ninth-place in 1971.

Following the 1971-72 season, Cunningham signed a contract with the ABA’s Carolina Cougars, and averaged 24.1 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in 84 games while playing 39 minutes per game and shooting 49% from the field. He was named the 1972 ABA MVP. 

In 1973-74, he played one more season for the Cougars, averaging 20.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists on 47% shooting in 32 games. 

The final two seasons of Cunningham’s basketball career were spent back with the 76ers. In 1974-75, he averaged 19.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in 80 games (73 starts, 36 minutes per game). The following season, his last, Cunningham started 20 games before sustaining a knee injury. He averaged 13.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in his final season. 

In his 11 seasons in professional basketball, Cunningham averaged 21.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 4.3 assists on 45% shooting in 35 minutes per game. He appeared in 770 games, 654 of which were with the 76ers. As a 76er, he averaged 20.8 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists on 45% shooting in 34 minutes per game. In his two seasons with the Cougars, he averaged 23.1 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 5.9 assists on 48% shooting in 38 minutes per game. Cunningham was a durable player, playing at least 80 games six times in his NBA career in addition to the 84 that he played with the Cougars in 1972-73. On April 1, 1970 in Game 4 of the Eastern Division Semifinals against the Milwaukee Bucks, Cunningham scored a career-high 50 points (10 rebounds) on 22-of-39 shooting and 6-of-8 from the line in 48 minutes.

A stout rebounder, Cunningham averaged double-digits in boards for six consecutive seasons from 1968-69 through to 1973-74. On December 20, 1970, he posted his career-high in rebounds (27) against the Portland Trail Blazers. He also had 31 points and 11 assists in the 134-132 Sixers’ win that night. His 6,638 career rebounds as a 76er are six more than Chamberlain’s 6,632, good for fourth on the franchise’s all-time rebounding list behind Dolph Schayes, Johnny Kerr, and Charles Barkley. 

After their NBA Finals appearance in 1977, the 76ers hired Cunningham to be their next head coach replacing Gene Shue, and over eight seasons at the helm in Philadelphia, Cunningham guided the 76ers to winning records and the playoffs in each season. This included a 59-23 record in 1979-80, a season in which they made the NBA Finals. Two seasons later, the 76ers won 58 games and won the Eastern Conference, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers once again in the Finals. The next season, Cunningham led the 76ers to 65 wins and the NBA title as they swept the Lakers 4-0 in the ‘83 Finals led by league MVP Moses Malone and Julius Erving.

In Cunningham’s last two seasons coaching, the team won 52 and 58 games. The ‘85 Sixers lost 4 games to 1 to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Cunningham totaled a win-loss record of 454-196 as an NBA head coach, with a .698 winning percentage. 

After Cunningham, his former 76er teammate Matt Guokas took over the team for two full seasons.

In 1986, Cunningham was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 

Happy 82nd Birthday, Billy Cunningham.