Ed Cunningham

{{Short description|American football player and announcer (born 1969)}}

{{For|those of a similar name|Ed Cunningham (executive)|Edward Cunningham (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Ed Cunningham

| number = 59, 79

| position = Center

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|8|17}}

| birth_place = Washington D.C., U.S.

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 3

| weight_lb = 285

| high_school = Mount Vernon (VA)

| college = Washington

| draftyear = 1992

| draftround = 3

| draftpick = 61

| pastteams =

Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals ({{NFL Year|1992|1995}})
Chicago Bears (1996)*
Seattle Seahawks ({{NFL Year|1996}})

| highlights =

National champion (1991)
First-team All-Pac-10 (1991)

| statlabel1 = Games played

| statvalue1 = 61

| statlabel2 = Games started

| statvalue2 = 47

| pfr = CunnEd20

}}

Ed Cunningham (born August 17, 1969) is an American sports announcer, film producer, and former professional American football player.

Following his career in the National Football League (NFL), Cunningham worked as an commentator for different media outlets, most recently ESPN. In 2017, he resigned citing his personal concerns with safety risks posed by the sport of football.

Playing career

Selected in the third round (61st overall) of the 1992 NFL draft by the Phoenix Cardinals,{{Cite web |title=1992 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1992/draft.htm |access-date=2023-05-07 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} Cunningham played center for five seasons for the Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He played college football at the University of Washington in Seattle, helping them win a national championship in 1991.

Sports commentator

After his football career, he became a football analyst for TNN (now known as Spike) calling games for the Arena Football League with Eli Gold as his broadcast partner. Cunningham also called Arizona Rattlers games for KUTP TV and KGME AM.

In 1997, Cunningham became a regional college football analyst for CBS Sports. Cunningham moved over to ABC Sports in August 2000.

In 2006, with the merger of ESPN and ABC Sports, Cunningham began appearing as analyst on ESPN College Football as well.{{Cite web |url=http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/cunningham_ed/ |title=Ed Cunningham - ESPN MediaZone |access-date=May 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018193258/http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/cunningham_ed/ |archive-date=October 18, 2017 |url-status=dead }}

In the years that followed, Cunningham's commentary increasingly drew the ire of college football coaches, resulting in at least two occasions where coaches responded directly to Cunningham's broadcasting commentary. These included Nebraska's Bo Pelini,{{cite web|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/507464-nebraska-football-the-hard-hitting-huskers-face-collision-questions|title=Nebraska Football: The Hard-Hitting Huskers Face Collision Questions|first=Brandon|last=Cavanaugh|publisher=Bleacher Report}} Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, who called comments by Cunningham "surprising and offensive,"{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-iowa-protected-cj-beathard-20170905-story.html|title = Iowa fires back on accusation that it should have protected C.J. Beathard|website = Chicago Tribune| date=September 5, 2017 }} and Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, who condemned Cunningham's comments regarding a Michigan player's injury.{{cite web|url=https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2016/09/jim_harbaugh_condemns_ed_cunni.html|title=Jim Harbaugh condemns Ed Cunningham's suspension speculation on Jourdan Lewis|date=September 5, 2016|publisher=MLive}} Cunningham later apologized for the Michigan comments.{{cite web|url=https://deadspin.com/espns-ed-cunningham-apologizes-to-michigan-for-speculat-1786412492|title=ESPN's Ed Cunningham Apologizes To Michigan For Speculating That Injured Player Was Suspended|first=Patrick|last=Redford|date=September 9, 2016 |publisher=Deadspin}}

Cunningham resigned from ESPN prior to the 2017 college season, citing disenchantment with football due to growing evidence of the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy that the sport poses for its players.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/sports/espn-ed-cunningham-football-concussions.html|title=ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field|last=Branch|first=John|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 30, 2017|access-date=August 30, 2017}}

Film career

Cunningham began to move behind the scenes in filmmaking and television. In 1992 he directed a documentary about his rookie season in the NFL. In 2005 he produced his first documentary New York Doll and then continued to produce several other documentaries including The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) and Undefeated (2011), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2060819/|title=Ed Cunningham|website=IMDb}} He also produced TV series like Breaking In and 'Dukes of Haggle' while also writing and directing the documentary 'Jerry's Last Mission'.

In June 2025, Cunningham made his feature directorial debut with Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad of Walter Day, a documentary about a key character from The King of Kong who moved on from video games to fulfill a dream of writing and recording rock love songs.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31973869/plotsummary/?ref_=tt_ov_pl] [https://mynorthwest.com/entertainment-news/arcades-and-love-songs/4098008]