Archdeacon: Flyers’ Cunningham celebrates family, career on Senior Night

His girlfriend, A’ja Wilson – the 6-foot-4 power forward of the Las Vegas Aces and the WNBA Rookie of the Year – was standing near him and she was drawing as much attention as he was.

Watching all this unfold just a few feet away was LaTanya Cunningham, Josh’s mom, his best friend and the woman who showed him both a loving manner and an unbending backbone as he grew up.

She especially was there that numbing day 13 years ago when unlike now – when laughter and love surround him – Josh felt sad and alone.

» PHOTOS: Senior Night ceremony | UD vs. La Salle

His dad had just died of a gunshot wound that occurred in unclear circumstances.

LaTanya quietly recalled that moment Wednesday night:

“Josh was just nine the day his father died and I remember sitting at the top of the stairs with him and telling him, ‘It’s just you and me now. I’m supposed to take care of you now, not the opposite. So there are just three things I want you to do:

“Continue to get good grades. Keep your room clean. And take out the trash. That’s it.’

“And he did. He kept up his end of the bargain and I kept up mine. We always considered each other.”

In the process their story become one of the most touching ever when it comes to Flyers basketball.

Josh not only became one of the best players ever to wear a Dayton uniform, he is one of the best guys Coach Anthony Grant has said he’s ever been around.

Cunningham transferred from Bradley University – where LaTanya had attended – following his freshman year in 2014-15.

While the Braves won just nine games that year and coach Geno Ford would be fired, Cunningham led the team in rebounding, was third in scoring and was named to the Missouri Valley Conference’s All Freshman Team.

Forced to sit out his first year in Dayton to meet NCAA transfer rules, he underwent a pair of surgeries, one to repair a torn meniscus and the other for a torn labrum.

Two games into the his long awaited return in 2016-17 , he landed badly after a late-game dunk against Alabama and tore ligaments in his ankle. He would miss 21 games, then return. Although out of shape, rusty and initially a bit unsure of his repaired ankle, he soldiered on and helped the Flyers win the Atlantic 10 Conference title and secure an NCAA Tournament bid.

Last season he was the one steady cornerstone in a disappointing 14-17 season and this year he’s been a leader — No. 2 in rebounds, No. 2 in points — in resurgent team that’s 20-12 going into the regular season finale Saturday at Duquesne.

In his college career Cunningham has scored 1,206 points and grabbed 720 rebounds. His Dayton totals are 946 points and 473 boards.

But he’ll be remembered here for more than that.

There’s that unbreakable bond with is mom that you saw on display as he walked her — a bouquet of roses in hand — to center court before Wednesday’s game as the UD Arena crowd stood and applauded.

Soon LaTanya’s eyes were brimming with tears.

Even though she works everyday as a payroll administrator with the Chicago Pubic Schools, she has made the trips to Dayton for games.

While Josh tried to dissuade her because of the grind, she insisted on being here. And so, after Wednesday’s game she drove back to Chicago with Chanda Davis, Josh’s godmother, planned to get “a couple of hours” of sleep and be at work Thursday morning.

She said she and Josh – her only child – talk daily and sometimes he might call her two or three times. “Especially if he’s cooking something,” she laughed. “He’ll ask, ‘What do I season it with?’ or “What temperature do I put the oven on?’”

She said she raised him using a sure fire method: “Step by step I took a page right out of my mom’s book.”

While he admitted he’s “spoiled,” she said “it was never to the point where he got things just because. He learned to work for what you wanted. And he learned how to treat people.”

You saw that as he walked off the court and made a point of giving kids his shoes, upon which he had written a note to his late teammate Steve McElvene. This would have been Big Steve’s Senior Night, as well.

Three-time captain

During his postgame session, Grant said he was glad the team could send Cunningham and fellow senior Jack Westerfield out on a winning note. He was especially pleased for Cunningham, whom he noted had had several struggles in his career.

And yet, those early college years were nothing compared to a three-year span Cunningham had when he first began his basketball.

LaTanya told how he wanted to go out for the team as a fifth grader, but she told him he couldn’t because she had to work and couldn’t drive him. Nor did she have anyone else who could.

In sixth grade Josh found a teammate’s mom who offered to drive him, but then he was cut from the team.

As a seventh grader he made the team, but rarely played.

Finally his luck began to change and he ended up a star at Morgan Park High School. At UD he became a three-time captain.

And while Wednesday’s game started out slowly for him — he had two points and two rebounds at the half — he helped his teammates shine.

Point guard Jalen Crutcher credited his own career-high 12 rebounds to Cunningham boxing out LaSalle’s beef inside.

And in the final 7:50, Cunningham scored 16 of his game-high 18 points. His total featured a dunk with his eyes closed – “I thought he was gonna hit me in the face,” – and a final three-point swish.

Mom kept him on right path

Cunningham remembers his dad with his name – “Johnny” – tattooed own the inside of his left arm.

But it’s his mom who he credits for making him the man he is.

“My mom was the one who really kept me on the right path after my dad passed,“ he once told me. “She knew with something like that happening, I could have gone the wrong way.”

Wednesday night he talked about the sacrifices his mom made in her life for him. He credits her for teaching him how he should treat others, especially women.

That’s something Wilson said she has seen in him since she and Josh began dating last season.

“I’d always taught him to find a girl that’s about her business, somebody that’s going to want something in her life and then the two of you can build it together and grow,” LaTanya said.

“And Josh seems to be a pretty good character judge. She’s a good person. They’re good for each other.”

She started to laugh: “They always argue about who’s the best.”

She said her son “loves UD…and everything about it.”

But after what several Flyers, including Grant, said they felt could be “a good run” in the postseason, it will be time for Cunningham to move on to his own pro dreams.

“He’s 22 now,” LaTanya said softly. “I’ve always taught him to be independent. And every day now he shows me he can be out there on his own. I have to let go now. It’s time.”

Well, not quite.

After he’d finished with his autographs, Josh got his mom, A’ja and the rest of his extended family to follow him down to the court for some photos.

And when he got there, he held everybody else back so he first could get some shots just with his mom.