‘Extremely fast’ athlete joins Penn State’s growing adaptive athletics program
When he was born, doctors said that Jack Cunningham would be lucky if he could eventually walk.
But on Thursday, the track and field athlete made his commitment to Penn State official, joining the university’s growing adaptive athletics program.
“We are so excited,” program director Brenna O’Connor said as Cunningham put pen to paper. “Good things are going to come.”
Cunningham was born with fibular hemimelia, a genetic disease that occurs during pregnancy, leaving him without fibulas, ankles and most bones in his feet. A double amputation was necessary when he was a year old.
But as soon as the casts came off, Cunningham started crawling up the steps and proving doctors wrong.
At age nine, he got his first pair of running legs, but he played on soccer teams even before getting them. They’re more expensive compared to everyday prosthetics, according to Cunningham, but a grant provided by the Challenged Athletes Foundation provided him with his first blades.
“It felt like a weight had been taken off both mentally and physically,” Cunningham said. “It gave me a fairness to the sport. I felt like I was just like everyone else essentially — besides the looks.”
The Springfield, PA, native has raced against able-bodied athletes but that’s never bothered him.
“I think that’s why he’s so fast,” Krista Cunningham, Jack’s mother, said. “Because he races able bodied, when he races adaptive, he’s extremely fast — it pushes him.”
Sports have always provided Cunningham with something to look forward to and dreams to chase. When he was nine, he wanted to be the fastest in third grade, but now the dream is much larger.
“Sports really gave me motivation, a better mindset and it’s helped me push for more in life than just being able to walk,” Cunningham said.
His sights are now set on being a Paralympian. The desire only grew after watching the 2024 Paris Paralympics, and as the games got more recognition, he saw proof he “could be something more than just the fastest in third grade.”
As a junior at Springfield, Cunningham raced in the Kevin Dare Indoor Invitational, hosted at Penn State’s indoor track facility, that invites schools from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey to compete.
It was also the first time he met O’Connor, who became Adaptive Athletics’ director two years ago when the program was placed back under Intercollegiate Athletics’ purview. She approached Cunningham to ask if he was interested in Penn State.
“That kind of put in perspective that I can do stuff like this, and I can come to college, I can run adaptive, I can get all the experiences I wanted,” he said.
In January he competed at the Kevin Dare again and set a new school record in the 4x400 relay race. Before the race, he and his teammates were nervous, with hundreds of people watching them make their way to the starting line.
“It’s the last event of the night, the most exciting event of the night and you really want to prove something,” Cunningham said. “When I crossed the line, I looked to the board and it shows our time as 3:28:13 ... we all started flipping out.”
The relay team placed fifth, and Cunningham also won the Kevin Dare Heart of the Lion Award, which is presented to promote courage, sportsmanship and leadership in track and field.
Now, that same track will be where Cunningham trains for the next four years as a Penn State student-athlete. He plans to major in mechanical engineering before eventually going to prosthetic school.
Cunningham posts his journey through sports on his Instagram account @jack_thebladerunner, and in his bio he includes a quote from the 2022 Adam Sandler movie “Hustle:” “Obsession beats talent every time.”
It’s an important reminder for himself — and others who see it — that “talent isn’t everything.”
“Some people think that talent is what makes an athlete and that you need to have all things in life go perfectly,” he said. “I think that being able to love the sport you do, to be willing to do it every single day means a lot more than just being naturally gifted.”
Apple featured Cunningham in a commercial called “The Relay,” which included both able-bodied and adaptive athletes together in one campaign that premiered right before the Paralympics. On YouTube it has garnered over 24 million views.
One month after it initially aired, Cunningham made his way to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for a triathlon training camp after generating interest from both Team USA Swimming and Track. For three days, he and the other athletes each completed a swimming, running and biking workout before waking up and doing it all over again.
“It was amazing because I met people who I could look up to, people I could make connections with, train with, race against,” Cunningham said. “It was probably the hardest camp I have ever done, but such a fun one.”
When Cunningham signed Thursday, behind him were the pictures of the Penn Staters who came before him that have competed in the Paralympics. Becoming a Nittany Lion pushes him closer to the goal he created when he first started running.
“Find what you love, right?” Tim Cunningham, Jack’s father said. “Find what you love and we’ll do our best to find a way to get you there right? As parents that’s what we do.”