Seiji Wood
Sports Editor
It’s 11:30 pm at Salt Lake City airport. Ross Cunningham is on a red eye flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, it’s one of his many stops to get to Durham, New Hampshire. Once he lands in Charlotte, he camps out for two hours in the airport until his connection flight to Boston takes off. Boston is where his journey begins.
He grabs his luggage in Boston and stops by a pub to grab some lunch, which would later lead to an unenjoyable experience of food poisoning. After his meal, he takes a bus from the Boston airport to a nearby harbor and from there takes a sea taxi. With his feet on dry land again, he marches two miles into the heart of Boston to catch a train that’ll take him an hour north to the city of Durham.
It took over 2,000 miles and an entire day of travel for Cunningham to reach his destination but to him it’s worthwhile to support the Idaho State volleyball team at the Holly Young Invitational.
Decked out in his super fan attire, which usually consists of a kilt, either an old ISU marching band jacket or jersey, a custom made ISU flag, face paint and long black or orange kilt hose socks, while enduring the symptoms of his food poisoning, he watched the Bengals go 1-2 in the tournament.
“It was totally worth it,” said Cunningham, Idaho State’s superfan. “I’d do it again but without the food poisoning.”
Cunningham was born in Ohio, moved to Utah around two years old and made his way to Pocatello, Idaho when he was 12. He’s currently a graduate student at ISU working on his masters degree in the political science department.
Most people recognize Cunningham at ISU sporting events. He goes to every home game, for all sports, any chance he gets. He does the same for road games if he’s financially able to. Durham, New Hampshire is the farthest he’s gone but he’s also traveled to Utah, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and Georgia.
“As long as I live here in Pocatello, I plan on being at Idaho State games pretty much for the rest of my life,” said Cunningham.
Cunningham finished his basketball tryouts for the freshman team at Pocatello High School. The basketball coach, Greg Evans, informed the participants who made the cut. Cunningham wasn’t one of them. However, coach Evans called him over after the decisions to have a short chat.
“You’ve got a lot of energy. I admire that,” said Evans. “I admire the dedication that you showed during this tryout and I could use somebody like that in the stands rallying behind this team.”
Right then at Pocatello High School, Ross the superfan was born.
After Cunningham graduated from high school, he took some time off to figure out exactly what he wanted to do. During the fall of 2006, a few of his friends who attended ISU convinced him to start going to games with them. That’s when Ross the superfan first hit the scene at Idaho State.
Before the kilt or the ISU marching band jacket or the other infinite types of outfits he wears to a game, Cunningham didn’t have an elaborate outfit. He would attend games with an ISU shirt, orange shorts and two shirts tied around his waist, but his energy was off the charts.
“One of the coaches at the time, Allison Gibson the soccer coach, noticed me running around the stands of the football games,” said Cunningham. “She was the one who really brought me into the Idaho State athletics family.”
Once Cunningham enrolled at ISU in the spring of 2007, everything kicked into high gear. Ever since then ISU’s superfan has been a constant at the games.
Back in 2009, Ross the superfan almost came to an end. The Idaho State women’s basketball team was just handed a loss against Portland State. A player on Portland State, Claire Faucher, dominated during the game. She dribbled the ball like Kobe Bryant and would routinely shoot 30 feet shots. As much as Cunningham cheered for ISU athletics, he couldn’t help but enjoy watching Faucher play.
After the game ended, Portland State gathered at the end of the basketball court. At the time teams didn’t use the locker room, so most teams would do their post game huddle on the court. A group of Idaho State fans went over by the huddle and started unleashing a barrage of taunts directed toward Faucher.
Cunningham was grabbing his things when he heard the taunts and immediately went over to confront the whole group. Red faced, he yelled at the fellow fans until they dispersed.
“I lost my mind,” said Cunningham. “After that I overheard one of the scorekeepers say that I needed to settle down or else I would wind up hurting somebody.”
Despite his love for ISU, he still respects the opponents, hence the scene that occurred. Cunningham went home that night thinking about what he did and heard. He never meant to take it that far, but for the sake of the existence of the superfan, he realized he needed to calm down.
Rugby ended up being Cunningham’s release. He joined ISU’s club rugby team and played for them for three years. All while upholding his place as one of ISU’s biggest supporters.
“If you play three years of rugby, that’ll mellow just about anybody out,” said Cunningham.
The only time Cunningham missed a large portion of games was when he was deployed to Afghanistan with the Army from June of 2017 to April of 2018. Even when he was away, ISU athletics would be on his mind.
He would return to his barracks after a long day of service and finally have a few moments to himself. He knew why he was there and that was always priority but any free moments he had, he would think of home.
“There was not a day that went by that I wasn’t thinking of my ISU family back home,” said Cunningham. “I got a lot of care packages from ISU. I still have all my letters that Bengals have written me.”
Cunningham views ISU athletics as something as an extended family. He loves the sports and the athletes who come and go through Idaho State.
What Cunningham enjoys most about being the superfan is the success he witnesses from ISU athletes. Not only from the sport they play but also from the life they live past collegiate sports.
“Championships and winning at life. Those are the two most gratifying things that pays off for a fan that puts as much into this as I do,” said Cunningham.
He feels that over the years he has been accepted as part of the ISU fabric and would love to see more support at ISU games. In the end, win or lose, he loves his Bengals. He realizes that there are people behind the uniform of the athletes, people behind the suits and ties of the coaches and they all have their hopes and ambitions.
He gives the same amount of love and respect as he would his own family. They make it easy for him to get out to the games and cheer for them no matter where it may be.
“People don’t realize that we have genuine talent here at ISU,” said Cunningham. “Get out to the games and put on your orange face paint. Support our athletes and you’ll be surprised at how much fun you’re gonna have.”
