Heidelberg University's Keyshawn "Key" Cunningham
When Heidelberg University All-American football student-athlete Keyshawn “Key” Cunningham received an invitation to attend the 2024 Black Student-Athlete Summit in Los Angeles, he did not hesitate to accept. The invitation was extended by his cousin, University at Buffalo men’s basketball player Anquan Boldin, Jr. through Players Coalition, a nonprofit independent organization that works with athletes, coaches and owners across the nation on social justice and racial equity issues.
Leader on Campus and His Team
Those who know Cunningham were not surprised in the least that he would take advantage of this opportunity. “Keyshawn is the ideal ambassador for the university and our football program. He is outgoing and a conduit for all student-athletes on our campus,” said Heidelberg Director of Athletics Greg Cooper. “He has my respect for his incredible work ethic and the way he is using this opportunity to improve himself, but also bring back what he has learned to improve the team. Just a great person and leader in every aspect.”
“Keyshawn is an incredible young man who has been an amazing ambassador not only for Heidelberg football, but for all of Division III athletics. His leadership in the BSU (Black Student Union) has been instrumental to its growth on campus and especially in the community. Heidelberg is in a rural area that lacks much diversity in terms of race. Under his leadership and the initiative, the BSU has given voice to countless young men and women in the Tiffin area, whether they are at Heidelberg or athletes or not,” described Heidelberg Head Football Coach Scott Donaldson. “His influence on our team and culture cannot be overstated. He has been selected captain by his teammates twice because of his leadership skills. Our program has transitioned into a 100% player-led program because of Keyshawn. He has built a culture that fosters personal growth and development while staying accountable to the team's principals and mission.”
In addition to being a leader, he also earned first team all-region and third team All-America honors last season. A senior who is graduating in December, Cunningham recorded a career-high six interceptions in 2023, adding 16 tackles and a pair of fumble recoveries, including one for a 40-yard touchdown against Ohio Northern University.
“There are a lot of things going through my mind when I think about him. My first thought was, plain and simple Keyshawn Cunningham is the hardest worker I have ever been around. There is no surprise the accolades, recognition and stats that he has when you see how hard Key works!” explained Heidelberg Associate Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Branden “Jake” Jakubcin. “He works tirelessly on his craft to be the best that he can possibly be. The highest praise that I can give someone here is that he is a "football player" to me; that means he does it the right way. He plays the right way. He is physical. He hits. He is athletic. He has ball skills. He communicates. He has football IQ. He simply can do it all. He has also taken younger players under his wing and has taught other players how to work hard, how to study film, and how to be a student-athlete. This is the reason he has been voted by his peers as a captain two years in a row. He is a leader. Off the field, he always holds down jobs. Whether it is a work-study job on campus or a job in the Tiffin community. This shows his ability to have time management. He understands what he needs to do and the time it takes to be successful on and off the field. He has also done a really nice job in the classroom the last few years. I am very proud of him for that as well.”
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, only four percent of those who live in Tiffin, Ohio, where the school is located, are Black. Those numbers are much higher in the football program, and Cunningham credits his coaches not only for the numbers, but for how they treat all the players. “My coaches do a great job of making sure no one feels left out and showing that everyone matters. It is family oriented, and I know I can talk to them and feel valued,” he remarked. Some of our teammates had never seen Black people before. When they ask us questions that others may know the answer to, we use it as an opportunity to talk to them and become closer. They just don’t know and want to learn.”
The Summit
“The summit was so impactful for me. I took a lot of notes. Just being there gave me a different perspective. All Black student-athletes go through many of the same things. It doesn’t matter whether you attend a Power Five school or play in Division II or III,” Cunningham explained. “We go through these things every day. There are a lot of athletes, even at the DI level, who don’t go to big schools. Most Black student-athletes attended PWIs (predominantly white institutions) and so we talked a lot about how to be yourself in that environment.”
The Players Coalition sponsored four student-athletes to attend the summit with Cunningham, Boldin, Jr., and two women’s basketball student-athletes from San Diego State University. “The Players Coalition is always interested in engaging the next generation of athlete activists and stewards. We work with more than 30 colleges across the country. As our resources opened, we wanted to give these student-athletes this opportunity to grow their network,” said Angela LaChica, founder and president of the women-led sport management and athlete impact firm LaChica Sports & Entertainment Group, which provides athlete management services, social impact strategy, and communication for athletes, brands, and sport properties.
The LCSE Group operates as the managing team for Players Coalition, working under the collective goal of making an impact on social justice and racial equality at the federal, state, and local levels through advocacy, awareness, education, and allocation of resources. “We want to engage student-athletes in these spaces and plan to continue doing so after the experiences those we sponsored had this year. Connecting people across the country, in this case from Buffalo (Boldin) to San Diego (women’s basketball players),” LaChica added.
The goal of the summit is to empower Black student-athletes to maximize their college experience in their sport, in the classroom, and to “not leave any meat on the bone” in terms of opportunities. Professional staff who attend the summit are empowered to go back to their campuses and create innovative initiatives to ensure that Black student-athletes are competitive in the global workforce upon graduation.
This year marked the ninth year of the annual four-day conference that brings together more than 1,500 student-athletes, university professionals and industry leaders. Dr. Leonard Moore, the George Littlefield Professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Though the event is made up of mostly Division I athletes, the Division III athletes who attended did not feel out of place, including Cunningham. “I felt like I was another regular student-athlete there. We all play sports and are students, so it didn’t matter where we go to school. We are around a lot of Black student-athletes. I don’t see this every day,” he communicated. “I used to think athletes just played at DI to try to play professionally, to go to the next level. I learned that a lot of people were simply using their platform to go to the next stage of life without playing their sport.”
Making a Difference Where You Are
Cunningham found value in each session and panel he attended, but he noted that one on social impact was his favorite and encouraged him to take his leadership a step further when he returns to campus in the fall. “My voice will be big; I am getting out of my box this fall!” he reported. “People see me as a leader because of how I carry myself. I am not going out on Friday and Saturday nights. When you are different, people are attached to you. I learned that from a BSU student representative who told me, ‘Just say something. People will listen.’ Hearing that from him and going to the summit made me realize I have a lot to say.”
He wrote down four key points about social impact that hit home with him:
- Learn from mistakes and from the people around you,
- Just keep fighting and know your ‘why’ for what you are doing,
- You can’t convince people of what is needed, and
- If people can’t accept you for you, remove yourself from them/the situation.
Even for someone like him who has a strong understanding of his ‘why,’ he found it helpful to listen to a discussion about ‘finding your cause.’ “The speakers talked about working hard, but to balance your call while also protecting who you are, to create a balance that sustains you because not everyone will be on your side. We learned to pick and choose the battles we want to fight and to use the resources and opportunities available to us, while recognizing that there will be difficult times and that you need to get uncomfortable. I know that I will be having conversations I have never had before but I won’t grow if I am always comfortable,” he stated.
“When I started working here, Keyshawn was in the middle of his sophomore year and was like a kid in a new world. Football was an immediate fit for him, his sense of belonging,” recounted Heidelberg Director for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging and a 2010 student-athlete graduate of the institution Aaron Nelson. “As we started talking about legacy, it was clear that he was a huge proponent of advocacy, and he soon went from just saying he was a Black student-athlete to speaking up about the needs of Black student-athletes on campus. He is motivated, always engaged in whatever space he is in. A lot of people struggle with intrinsic motivation and need to see a peer doing something first before they engage. Keyshawn is that person who people see and say, ‘If he is going to be there, I will go.’ We have had multiple Martin Luther King, Jr. engagement sessions on campus and he has been part of three of them.”
Nelson recollected how Cunningham helped facilitate an MLK session called “Can my Black Card be Revoked?” in which he led conversations on the fictional Black card and how that led to discussions about the diaspora of Blackness and how different people or even generations are socialized in their reactions to things like the use of the “n-word” in the culture. “He has learned a lot about socialization and even how he was socialized growing up in Florida, leading him to initially not want to try different things,” remarked Nelson, who runs the campus’ Justice Jog where students, staff, faculty, community members, and local law enforcement circulate through multiple rooms on campus to learn about victims of injustice.
One motto that Cunningham has lived by is to ‘be where your feet are,’ to always be present wherever you are. “I had a good season last year but didn’t hit the (transfer) portal. I have talked to three NFL scouts this spring. I am where I want to be,” said Cunningham. “I plan to be 10 times more active this fall in BSU and getting my team to be around other students and athletes on campus. I don’t want to be in a room where everyone is the same and wants everyone else to be the same. I want to partner with people who want things to be different, to be better for everyone.”
Another place he has made a profound impact is with the family of Jakubcin. “All of that being said, the thing I am most proud of him for is he is a role model. My wife and kids love him. He always makes time for them. He plays with my kids, he will come watch them if they are in a camp on campus, and win or lose, talk to them or take pictures with them after games and leave them with a handshake or a hug,” Jakubcin expressed. “My kids look up to him and I am very proud of that. I am glad they have a role model like Keyshawn Cunningham to look up to. I am glad to be a little part of the man that he is today, and I am very excited to see where this season goes and what the future holds for him.”
