Anthony "T. J." Cunningham Jr. (October 24, 1972 – February 18, 2019) was a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), playing for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

in 1996. Cunningham decided to retire after only one season. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Early life and education

Cunningham was born in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...

. He graduated from Overland High School. After his star football career in high school, Cunningham attended college at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

, playing football there as well.

Career

Athletic career

Cunningham was selected by the

in the sixth round (209th overall) of the

1996 NFL draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 20–21, 1996 NFL seas ...

. That year, Cunningham played in nine games before injuring his knee against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

. He was released on August 25, 1997 after being placed on the physically unable to perform list a week prior.

After football

After his playing career, Cunningham returned to his hometown and worked at William C. Hinkley High School, part of Aurora Public Schools, as its assistant principal.

Death

On February 17, 2019, Cunningham was shot at Eaglecrest High School in Arapahoe County by a neighbor following an ongoing dispute over a parking space. He had met with the suspect, Marcus Johnson, at the parking lot to "box it out", when Johnson shot him three times. He died the following day as a result of his injuries. Johnson was charged with first-degree murder. But was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/marcus-johnson-sentenced-deadly-shooting-t-j-cunningham/

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, T. J. 1972 births 2019 deaths Deaths by firearm in Colorado Players of American football from Aurora, Colorado Educators from Colorado American football safeties Colorado Buffaloes football players Seattle Seahawks players People murdered in Colorado American murder victims 2019 murders in the United States