‘Real Indian’ True To Himself Nic Guard Endures Racism While Helping Cardinals Fill Up The Basket

Everyone notices the hair.

You can’t miss it, pony-tailed down the middle of North Idaho College basketball player David Cunningham’s back.

His hair, bouncing and flowing as he plays, like the mane of some wild, fractious pony, is not some trivial fashion statement - it’s a link to his heritage.

Generally, NIC coach Rolly Williams has a rule against long locks.

“It’s not something I usually allow,” Williams said. “He and I have never talked about it, actually. But I appreciate his heritage and I think I understand how it relates.

“It has significance.”

Cunningham, a freshman guard from Lapwai, is a member of the Nez Perce Indian nation of north-central Idaho. He says a lot of people make comments about his hair, but he explains it this way, “Everyone where I’m from has pretty long hair,” he said. “I guess that’s just our style.

When we leave, that’s how we go.”

As much as any reason, Williams said Cunningham has a right to wear his hair in the manner he chooses.

Why? “Because he’s got some very fine qualities about him, the way he conducts himself personally, things I admire. He’s a tough, hard-nosed kid who comes to play.”

But not everyone has been so understanding. Last weekend, while NIC was in the midst of beating rival and then-No. 2-ranked College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, CSI guard Rusty Yoder began talking to Cunningham.

He intentionally bumped into Cunningham after a play was over.

“He said something pretty ignorant, ‘Go back to the reservation,”’ Cunningham said. “What’s he going to say when he doesn’t know anything about anything. Like calling somebody ‘Chief.’ That’s pretty ignorant. Do you know what a chief is, what’s behind it?

“To say something (like Yoder), what’s that supposed to mean? That I’m not supposed to be here because I’m from there? What’s your problem? Are you scared, because maybe I’m better than you?”

Cunningham answered the question in the way he handled the incident.

“He kept his cool,” said NIC teammate Eric Sanchez. “He’s better than that.”

After the game, Yoder piped up again, according to Cunningham.

“He said, ‘Go back to the reservation.’ I said, ‘Who are you to say anything about the reservation? If you want I’ll take you to the reservation and you won’t be talking like that.’

“He just kept talking, he said, ‘I’ll give you $5 for a haircut.’ You get mad, but there’s a time and a place to settle something like that. You can’t do anything on the floor.”

Cunningham walked away, shaking his head, as he’s done at times when some NIC students have approached him and said, “How,” or “Hey, chief.”

“They say they don’t do it on purpose, but when it comes across … I think there needs to be a lot more public awareness,” Cunningham said. “Those old western movies, those are all fake. Those aren’t real Indians.”

Real Indians, Cunningham said, are no different than anyone else.

His heritage is important to him. He reads books and studies his culture. He is a traditional dancer at pow wows.

”(Traditional dancing) is something I wanted to do. I remember when I was a kid and I use to do it,” he said. “But when I got involved in sports, that’s all I thought of and did. I was mostly known for sports. When I got old enough and understood more, it’s something I felt I needed to do. The more I learn about (my heritage), the more it means to me.”

Cunningham grew up in Lapwai, the son of a white railroad worker and a Nez Perce mother. His parents divorced soon after David’s birth and he lived with his father.

His dad remarried and Cunningham has a total of three brothers and three sisters. Most of his siblings were athletic and all are academic achievers.

Cunningham’s mother died of a heart attack, when he was freshman in high school. Though they weren’t particularly close, Cunningham vividly recalls the day.

“It was 2:30 in the morning, actually 2:31, and the phone rang,” he said. “It was my aunt. Everyone thinks I’m my dad, because we sound alike. She told me what happened and said, ‘Tell David in the morning.”’

Many of Cunningham’s relatives attend NIC games. The Cunningham name is well known in Lapwai.

“He’s like a god down there,” said Felix McGowan, NIC minority student advisor.

McGowan, a Native American and former NIC player, helped steer Cunningham to Coeur d’Alene. The two played on the Nez Perce Nations team last year and McGowan was impressed with Cunningham’s ability.

“There are things you can’t teach,” McGowan said. “You either know the little pieces of basketball or you don’t. He’s like a coach’s kid.”

At Lapwai, Cunningham was an all-state football player and a dazzling basketball player.

He carried a 4.0 grade-point average until the final semester of his senior year. But, in fear for having to give the valedictorian speech at graduation ceremonies, Cunningham intentionally slacked off his school work.

“If I really wanted to, I could have (got a 4.0),” he said. “I just knew I wouldn’t be able to give that speech.”

He attended the University of Washington and tried to walk on to the basketball team. He was cut, returned to Lapwai and worked until coming to NIC this fall.

McGowan fully understands some of the challenges Cunningham has faced in Coeur d’Alene. On a campus with few Native Americans, Cunningham has meshed well with students and teammates.

“He seems to be doing fine, plus he’s got Alan (Spoonhunter, NIC redshirt and Cunningham’s roommate),” McGowan said. “It’s a challenge to be away from home, but he doesn’t seem to have any problems, other than missing home a little.

“He still has a lot of close friends down south. I just wanted him to know somebody was up here for him and he could be comfortable. I have a lot of fun with him.”

Or, as Sanchez put it, “Everyone gets along with Dave.”

Not that Cunningham had to win over anybody, but he has developed into a crowd favorite in Coeur d’Alene and, somewhat surprisingly, at other Scenic West venues.

“I watched him one game where he took maybe one shot and he was still the MVP of the game,” NIC women’s coach Greg Crimp said. “As much as he can do, I’ve never seen him try to do something he can’t do. He plays within himself and all-out and that’s a tough combination.”

Usually the first guard off the bench, Cunningham rates among the league’s top 10 3-point shooters (42 percent) and top 15 in steals (2 per game). He averages just 5.2 points per game, but that’s more a function of limited minutes caused by sharing time with several talented NIC guards.

He’s a stout 5-foot-11, with a future in Division I, Williams said.

“You win games with guys like Cunningham and Sanchez,” Williams said.

After a sluggish performance by his women’s team recently, Crimp was writing up his team’s first-half failings. Later, while watching the men’s game, he looked over at assistant coach Kristi Johnson, and said, ‘Instead of writing all the things I wrote, I should have just wrote ‘David Cunningham’ on the board because he does everything well.”

“When I first saw him, I really didn’t know what to expect,” Sanchez said. “But once I played with him, I knew what to expect. He’s a great player.”

It goes with the person. And with the hair.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo