Mike Cunningham, teacher and coach, loses fight to illness

By Les Gehrett and Cathy Ingalls
For the Gazette-Times

ALBANY — Mike Cunningham, a West Albany, Oregon High School teacher whose fight against illness inspired the community for years, died February 3 at Samaritan Albany General Hospital.

He was 37.

He was a West graduate who went on to play football at Oregon State University.

Cunningham played linebacker for Oregon State in the late 1980s under coach Dave Kragthorpe. After graduating from OSU in 1990, Cunningham returned to West Albany, where he served as a teacher and as an assistant coach with the football, wrestling and track teams.

Cunningham was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in early 1998.

His many friends and supporters held fund-raisers to support the family and treatment efforts.

West Albany Principal Susie Orsborn was a first-year teacher at West Albany in the 1985-1986 school year, when Cunningham was a senior. They were later colleagues on the school's faculty.

"He's a part of our school family and we will miss him very much and feel for his family," Orsborn said. "Mike was about as kind and caring a person that you would ever know."

Albany police officer Curtis Hyde remembers playing in three sports with Cunningham.

"In 1982, I played on the West Albany football team with him, ran track with him and wrestled with him," Hyde said.

Friday, he remembered Cunningham as a big man.

"He was strong as an ox. He was very tough and very intense," he said. "He always was positive and up beat. He wasn't afraid to take on anything.

"He didn't step down from any task, and he always did what the coaches wanted him to do. He did everything for the team."

Cunningham is survived by his wife, Janelle, and daughters Jenna, a West Albany sophomore, and Ashton, a fifth-grader at North Albany Elementary School.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday at West Albany High School.

Orsborn said it would be a great honor to host the service.

"Mike Cunningham was a Bulldog through and through," she said.

All of us at Ride for Life send their deepest sympathies to Mike's wife Janelle, his daughters, Jenna and Ashton, and his family. Mike was a long time friend of Ride for Life and an unselfish crusader in the fight against ALS.