« Baseball 2019

Richard Cunningham

School
Baylor University
Position
Outfield/Designated Hitter
Major
Finance and MBA

Classroom

Richard Cunningham has already earned his undergraduate degree in finance and will earn his MBA this May. He made the dean’s list in eight of nine possible semesters during his time at Baylor, and he also made the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll during that same time. Cunningham has also earned the following honors: Dr. Gerald Lage Big 12 Academic Achievement Award, 2017 Big 12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, 2017 Big 12 Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship, Google Cloud Academic All-America Team, CoSIDA Academic All-District, Academic All-Big 12 (three times), American Bank Academic All-Star and the Academic achievement award for the highest GPA on the baseball team in 2016 and 2017.

Character

Cunningham is a young man of extremely high character. He has the respect of his teammates on and off the field as he leads by example with his work in the classroom and on the diamond. He is a leader and a young man toward which his teammates gravitate. He is the definition of Baylor’s vision of Building Champions for Life as he represents the university with class, is a great competitor, has strong faith and is excellent in the classroom.

In 2016, he was selected to represent the student-athletes on the search committee for current Baylor University President Linda Livingstone.

Community

Cunningham consistently volunteers in the community, is very active in SAAC and spent his summer doing an internship with the Baylor Bear Foundation, the fundraising and donor arm of the Baylor athletic department.

Competition

Cunningham led the Bears with a .342 batting average, set career highs of .342 batting average, 45 runs, 77 hits, nine home runs, 38 RBI and six stolen bases. He was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team as he helped lead the Bears to the program’s first Big 12 Tournament title. A three-year starter, Cunningham was named second-team All-Big 12 in 2018 and honorable mention All-Big 12 in 2017.