Julian Rees Cunningham
Julian Rees Cunningham was the son of a coach. His father, Julian B Cunningham, had coached at Camargo from 1924-25 through 1935-36 with a record of 122-137 and Sharpsburg from 1937-38 to 1955-56 with a record of 276-255.
Julian Rees Cunningham, the son, coached basketball at nine high schools, for 41 years beginning at Orangeburg (Mason County) in 1954 where he coached the one season of 1954-55 and finished at 11-15. In 1955-56 Cunningham coached Butler in Pendleton County for one season, going 21-10. His next coaching stop was at Sharpsburg in Bath County where he had played his high school basketball . Cunningham stayed two seasons there in 1956-57 and 1957-58 and won 41 while losing 20.
Cunningham then went to Camargo, another familiar town to him, where he coached from 1958-59 until the school closed after the 1963-64 season. In his first season he needed to do better than the previous year’s team, which won four games and lost to Clark County by fifty points in the District Tourney. He led them to a 21-11 record. Overall there he had a record of 139-43. That topped his father’s record at Camargo. Notably, Cunningham the elder was the first ever basketball coach at Camargo and the younger was the last. Camargo, along with Mt. Sterling DuBois, merged in with Montgomery County and Julian Rees Cunningham became coach in 1964-65 through the 1966-67 season, going 63-34.
From Montgomery County he went on to coach Bath County beginning in the 1968-69 season and stayed there through the 1975-76 season, winning 137 games and losing 75. In those eight seasons he won the District Tournament five times and the Regional Tournament once, in the 1974-75 season. They fell by three points to Newport Catholic in the opening round of the Sweet 16.
Next up for Cunningham was Clark County, where he coached from the 1976-77 season through the 1978-79 season, winning the District Tournament two of those three years. His record there was 50-32.
Cunningham journeyed back to Montgomery County once more. This time he coached basketball from 1980-81 through the 1985-86 season, going 69-90 and winning one District Tournament.
His final move was to Jessamine County, where he led the Colts to a 74-62 record from 1988-89 until his retirement after the 1992-93 season. In his five seasons there he won the District two times and took the Colts to the State Tournament in the 1989-90 postseason. There they won their opening round over Paducah Tilghman before falling to State runner up Covington Holmes in the quarterfinals.
PLAYING DAYS: As a high school player Cunningham played for Sharpsburg where his father was coaching. He would then play at Lindsey Wilson Junior College and at Rollins College in Florida.
Cunningham worked the great summer camps of coach Don Lane’s at Transylvania University for 26 years. There are references to his name being Julian Cunningham Jr. though other records show he had a different middle name from his father.
One thing about Cunningham that should be mentioned here is that he not only worked trying to get his players basketball scholarship, but often did the same for opposing players.
Julian Rees Cunningham’s record for coaching was 607-358.
Coach Cunningham retired in 1994 and passed away in 2008.
