Gary Cunningham
Encyclopedia
Gary Cunningham is a college men's basketball coach. He was the head coach of the University of California, Los Angeles
men's basketball team from 1977 to 1979, guiding them to a 50–8 record. He has the highest winning percentage of any coach in UCLA men's basketball history (.862). This puts him ahead of Gene Bartow
(.852), Fred W. Cozens
, and John Wooden
(.808).
Gary played basketball at UCLA on the varsity team from 1960 to 1962. He played in the first Final Four appearance for the Bruins in the 1962 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated
on March 19, 1962. Cunningham was drafted by Cincinnati in the 7th round as the 58th pick in 1962.
Gary was the coach of the UCLA freshmen in 1965, when high school All Americans Lew Alcindor and Lucius Allen were on the team. The frosh defeated the UCLA varsity, 75 to 60, in the first game ever played in Pauley Pavilion, when the varsity was rated number-one in the nation. He was later an assistant coach under John Wooden and became the head coach at UCLA in 1977. He coached two seasons, winning the Pacific 8 and Pacific 10 conference championships and leading UCLA to a #2 ranking in the final polls both seasons.
He retired in the summer of 2008 after thirteen years as the Director of Athletics at the University of California, Santa Barbara
.
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
men's basketball team from 1977 to 1979, guiding them to a 50–8 record. He has the highest winning percentage of any coach in UCLA men's basketball history (.862). This puts him ahead of Gene Bartow
Gene Bartow
Gene Bartow is a former men's college basketball coach. The Browning, Missouri, native coached 36 years at six universities after coaching two high schools in Missouri for six years.-High school:...
(.852), Fred W. Cozens
Fred Cozens
-References:...
, and John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...
(.808).
Gary played basketball at UCLA on the varsity team from 1960 to 1962. He played in the first Final Four appearance for the Bruins in the 1962 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
1962 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
-Mideast region:-Midwest region:-West region:-Final Four:-External links:* on Shrp Sports * , source for much of the information on this page....
. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
on March 19, 1962. Cunningham was drafted by Cincinnati in the 7th round as the 58th pick in 1962.
Gary was the coach of the UCLA freshmen in 1965, when high school All Americans Lew Alcindor and Lucius Allen were on the team. The frosh defeated the UCLA varsity, 75 to 60, in the first game ever played in Pauley Pavilion, when the varsity was rated number-one in the nation. He was later an assistant coach under John Wooden and became the head coach at UCLA in 1977. He coached two seasons, winning the Pacific 8 and Pacific 10 conference championships and leading UCLA to a #2 ranking in the final polls both seasons.
He retired in the summer of 2008 after thirteen years as the Director of Athletics at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
.