CMU Great Enters MAC Hall
5/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Casey Cunningham, the only NCAA wrestling champion in Central Michigan history, was inducted into the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame during the league's Honors Dinner Ceremony Wednesday at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel.
"It's very humbling for me," said Cunningham, who won the NCAA title at 157 pounds as a senior in 1999 after finishing runner-up the previous year. "I don't think it really has sunk in yet. It's very humbling that Central Michigan would choose me to nominate me, and it's humbling that the MAC would choose me.
"It just makes me think about how thankful I am for the opportunity I had at Central Michigan, and all the opportunities that have come from wrestling at Central Michigan and the years I spent coaching there.
"I'm just thankful for all the people who have been in my life from my parents to my coaches to my teammates. It's a great honor. I'm very thankful."
Cunningham, who went on to serve as an assistant under CMU wrestling coach Tom Borrelli for seven seasons, was joined in the 2015 MAC Hall of Fame Class by former Eastern Michigan track and field and cross country coach Bob Parks; former Miami (Ohio) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger; former Western Michigan track and field and cross country coach George Dales; and Gary Pinkel, who coached football at both Kent State and Toledo.
Cunningham is one of the all-time greats in Central Michigan athletics history, and he joins an exclusive group of former Chippewas who have been enshrined in the MAC Hall of Fame. Among them are some of the iconic names in CMU athletic lore such as Herb Deromedi, Dave Keilitz, Dan Roundfield, Gary Hogeboom, Ted Kjolhede and Charlie Coles.
The MAC Hall of Fame has fewer than 75 members, and Cunningham is just the third wrestler to be enshrined. He is one of nine MAC wrestlers to have won a national championship.
Cunningham came to CMU from Fulton High School in 1994, when Borrelli was just a few years into his tenure as the Chippewas' coach. What ensued was one of the most-accomplished athletic careers CMU has seen.
"Outside of God, and the influence God has had in my life," Cunningham said, "Borrelli has had more of an influence than anybody else. He saw something in a little skinny 145-pound dweeb that other people didn't see.
"I told him one of my goals was to be a national champion. He looked me in the eyes and said, `You can do it here and I'll help you do it.'
"I believed what he said; I believed he could help me accomplish my goals."
Cunningham remains the Chippewas' all-time leader in wins (134) and win percentage (.876, 134-19), was a three-time MAC champion, was twice named the MAC wrestler of the year, earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the 1999 league championships, and was named the league's freshman wrestler of the year in '96.
A knee injury near the end of his sophomore year slowed Cunningham, and he credits Borrelli with helping him overcome that potentially devastating hurdle.
"That's maybe when I started to question my goals a little bit, but Borrelli got back on me," Cunningham said. "He said, `Hey let's go. You're going to do this and I'm going to do this with you.'
"When I was running, he was running with me; when I was lifting, he was lifting with me; when I drilled, I drilled with him. He was a huge influence on my life.
"That I was able to win the national championship my senior year was awesome for me, but it was awesome that I was able to give something back to him. For all the work that he put in to me I was glad to be able to give something back to him."
Cunningham left an indelible mark on the program
"During my tenure here, he's the guy that really put our program on the map," said Tom Borrelli, who is in his 24th year as the Chippewas' coach. "When you think of Central Michigan wrestling in the time I've been coaching here, Casey Cunningham is the flag bearer.
"A two-time national finalist, a national champion, a fantastic assistant coach, and beyond that he's a very, very good ambassador for our program. As good as it gets."
After Cunningham serving as an assistant under Borrelli, Cunningham joined coach Cael Sanderson at Iowa State for the 2008-09 season. The following year, Cunningham became the head assistant coach to Sanderson at Penn State, and helped lead the Nittany Lions to four consecutive national championships from 2011-14.
Cunningham was a four-time Charles "Chick" Sherwood Most Valuable Wrestler at CMU and ranks among the top 10 in school history in career pins (31) and single-season victories (37).
He helped lead the Chippewas to MAC Tournament championships in 1998 and '99, and the regular-season MAC title in '98. With Cunningham finishing as the runner-up in '98, CMU finished fifth in the NCAA Championships, and his individual title in '99 helped the Chippewas to a seventh-place finish.
The fifth-place finish in '98 remains the best in CMU wrestling history.
In 2009, Cunningham was inducted into the Central Michigan University Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame.
Cunningham went on to a very successful post-collegiate career on the mat, placing at the USA Olympic Trials in both 2004 and 2008. He also placed at the World Team Trials, National Championships, U.S. Nationals and U.S. Senior Nationals.
"Casey is the epitome of what you're looking for in a wrestler," Borrelli said. "He got as much out of his God-given ability as anyone we've ever had here. We haven't had anyone, ever, outwork him at anything."
Cunningham was CMU wrestling's first three-time Academic All-MAC selection, and he earned first team National Wrestling Coaches Association Academic All-America honors twice, and received honorable mention on two other occasions.