Division I trailblazer for Coyote basketball enters Hall of Fame

Across a span of 51 years of South Dakota women’s basketball there have been only three athletic conferences – the North Central Conference, the Great West Conference, the Summit League – to which the Coyotes have belonged. Only one women’s basketball player has taken the court in conference play of all three leagues – Amber (Hegge) Cunningham.

Cunningham saw South Dakota’s transition from an elite Division II program through to the start of the Division I era. This Friday she will join an elite group of Coyote alumni as a member of the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame.

“I am really grateful to be a part of such a special group,” said Cunningham. “Thinking about the names of some of my former teammates that have gotten in, and knowing how much work it takes to become a great player, I am really honored to be amongst them.”

Cunningham is the fourth player from the Coyotes’ NCAA Division II runner-up team in 2007-08 to be inducted to the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame. She follows Bridget Yoerger (2021), Jeana Hoffman Krome (2019) and Jenna Hoffman Kubesh (2019). Head coach Chad Lavin was inducted in 2011. Overall, she is the 23rd women’s basketball player to be recognized in the Hall.

Hailing from Crofton, Nebraska, Cunningham’s decision to attend the University of South Dakota came from a genuine approach by a pair of Coyote coaches in Lavin and Director of Track and Field Lucky Huber.

“Lavin didn’t even recruit me,” Cunningham laughed in recollection. “He told me ‘I know you’re not going to come here, but if you ever want to transfer back, we will always have a scholarship for you.’

“I thought the way Lavin went about the recruitment process was very genuine. He wasn’t trying to sell me anything. I remember a home visit with him and Lucky where they were very straightforward with me. USD was also one of the only places that would allow me to do both basketball and track and field.”

Cunningham ultimately chose South Dakota, where she would go on to graduate as the Coyotes’ second-leading scorer. She also finished her career second in blocked shots and fifth in rebounds. She was a three-time all-conference pick, twice in the Great West and once in the Summit League.

Much of that collegiate career was played under head coach Ryun Williams after Lavin announced his plans to retire at the end of Cunningham’s freshman campaign. Lavin’s final season was memorable as the Coyotes reached the national championship game in Kearney through a historic 33-2 campaign. Cunningham averaged 7.9 points and 4.5 boards that year as one of the first players off the bench.

“That whole run, from playing our regionals in Vermillion and battling North Dakota in front of big crowds, to making it to Kearney, was unbelievable,” recollected Cunningham. “I was fortunate to have such a cool experience right out of the gate. I had the opportunity to learn from four seniors who were very serious and went about their business the right way. It was really cool to be a part of it all, Lavin’s last year and the final run for those seniors.”

As she adjusted to learning from a new coach in Williams, and as the Coyotes began the initial year of the Division I transition, Cunningham chose to redshirt her sophomore campaign. Instead, she spent the season honing in on her other passion – track and field. It was the lone season she was truly able to devote time to indoor track and field.

Cunningham swept conference titles in the high jump, long jump and triple jump at the 2009 Great West Conference Championships held inside the DakotaDome.

“I had a lot of success at that conference meet, but I remember I broke my own nose in the high jump,” Cunningham said. “They had to shut down the meet at one point because I had a blood trail going across lanes three and four. I ended up winning three events and we won the team title. But I ended up in the hospital that night while the team went and jumped in the pool to celebrate.”

Cunningham tallied five individual conference titles and 10 all-conference honors during her track and field career at USD. She remains ranked in the top-10 all-time for the high jump.

Coming off that redshirt season, she would spend the next three years as the Coyotes’ leading scorer and rebounder on the hardwood. Cunningham was a key piece in guiding the Coyotes through the transition years, from the rigorous travel schedule of the Great West to being ineligible for the NCAA Tournament at the season’s end.

The reward ultimately paid off in 2012 when the Coyotes made the Women’s National Invitation Tournament for the first time. With an experienced group that tackled the transition together, the Coyotes went on a run to place third in the team’s first season as a member of the Summit League. USD won 12 of its last 13 regular season games and then advanced to the second round of the WNIT.

“It’s fun when you feel like you’re building momentum and playing well at the end,” said Cunningham. “Then to follow that up by being able to play WNIT games in front of the home crowd in the Dome was awesome. That opportunity is what we worked hard for in the years leading up to that.”

During the Coyotes’ run that season came the first win over in-state rival South Dakota State in the Division I era. In a part of renewing the rivalry, Cunningham dropped a game-high 28 points in the thrilling 59-53 overtime win inside the DakotaDome.

“It was a great crowd,” Cunningham recalled. “I remember (Annie) Roche hit a little jump shot to put us into overtime. I think we were down nine in the last three minutes, but then went on to beat them in overtime. It felt really good to get a signature home win against SDSU in front of our fans.”

Cunningham averaged 19.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 blocks during her senior campaign. It ties for the third-best single-season scoring average in USD history, trailing only Hall of Famer Mandy Koupal.

While reflecting back on her collegiate career, Cunningham remembered the specifics of a few games, but her favorite memories were the fun times with her teammates. She loved summers in Vermillion spent going to the river, traveling with her best friends on the team and trying to win basketball games.

Following graduation, Cunningham knew she wanted to stay involved in basketball, but she wasn’t certain whether that would be in a playing career or transitioning to coaching. She worked with Williams to find an agent and ended up landing on a team in Germany for year one. Then another call from Australia for the following season sent her ‘down under’ where she ended up staying for four seasons. She split time in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) between the Melbourne Boomers and the Ringwood Hawks.

“I loved Australia,” Cunningham said. “They were great about making it a family atmosphere, similar to how my experience was in Vermillion, where everyone knew everyone in the club. When you’d be out and about, you’d see people who were excited about the upcoming games.”

One day, her phone rang with a familiar voice on the other end of the line. That voice belonged to Lavin, who was on Williams’ staff at Colorado State.

“Lavin called me about a position that had opened up,” Cunningham recalled. “I knew these opportunities don’t come around all that often, so I decided I may as well give it a try.

“My first year at Colorado State I was on the operations side of the staff. Each day at practice I would sit next to Lavin and observe. I learned so much that year. I thought I knew a lot from playing, but in that one season of sitting next to Lavin each day I think I learned more than I had in my previous 15 years of basketball.”

Cunningham enters her seventh season on staff at Colorado State and her sixth as an assistant coach under Williams. She resides in Fort Collins with her husband, Michael, their son, Noah, and daughter, Olivia.

“Coaching with young children at home isn’t exactly easy,” Cunningham said. “I have been fortunate in that Coach Williams is a great boss and he’s like family. He looks out for me and has been able to provide me a little more flexibility at times, which has been nice.”

Although family and her own coaching schedule keep her busy during basketball season, she still follows the Yotes from afar.

“I love the Yotes,” said Cunningham. “Coach Williams’ alma mater is USD and Rico (Burkett) on our staff went to North Dakota, so we follow the Summit League quite a bit. It has been fun to watch all of their success, seeing them on TV and playing in March Madness.

“For all of the alumni to watch and see how far the program has come, that was pretty special."

Cunningham will be formally inducted to the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony Friday evening beginning at 5:30 p.m. The newest Hall of Fame class will be recognized Saturday at halftime of South Dakota’s football game versus Cal Poly.

“USD is a pretty special place,” Cunningham said. “It’s easy to be a resource for an athlete when they’re on your current team and it’s reciprocated when they’re doing something for you. But right now, I could call up Lucky Huber, Becky Flynn-Jensen or Chad Lavin and I know that they would do anything for me 10 years later. The fact that they continue to be there for their athletes down the line is pretty special and I’m incredibly grateful for that."