RIO DE JANEIRO (RNS)—Randall Cunningham is not only Vashti Cunningham’s father, but also her coach—and her pastor.
That’s a lot of father-daughter time in any family, but in this one, it’s part of the family business—producing elite athletes who also are deeply committed Christians.
Randall Cunningham, 53, was a quarterback, primarily for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings, before he retired in 2001. Felicity Cunningham, his wife, is a former professional ballerina.
Their eldest son, Randall Cunningham II, is a track-and-field star at the University of Southern California, and second child Vashti, 18, is making her Olympic debut Aug. 18 in the women’s high jump.
“She has the genetics,” Randall Cunningham told the Portland (Ore.) Tribune. “God has blessed her. … The strength, the jumping—she has that.”
She also has her parents’ faith. Randall and Felicity Cunningham are co-pastors and founders of Remnant Ministries, a nondenominational Christian church with about 1,200 members that grew out of a weekly Bible study the couple held in their Las Vegas living room.
Randall Cunningham also coaches a local high school football team and owns a marble and tile business. In between, he coaches his children in the high jump, a sport he competed in when he was their age.
“Most of it is mental training,” he told CBS Sports in Rio. “Mental training is about the inner being, in my opinion, and (Vashti) trusts God. A lot of athletes are strong Christians, because when you exhaust yourself with believing in yourself, you have to believe in the Truth. You can’t rub a rabbit’s foot. The rabbit’s foot is not going to do anything for you. But when you pull on the true and living God, there’s power in that.”
The Cunninghams named Vashti for the Persian queen in the biblical book of Esther, who refused to allow her husband to parade her before drunken guests at a banquet.
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“I think there is strength in the name, because I’m not easily persuaded,” Vashti Cunningham told the Los Angeles Daily News. “And I personally will not do anything that I don’t think is right.”
She appeared relaxed as she waited for her event in Rio. Her personal best is 6-feet, 6-and-one-quarter inches, and she’s told her father she is aiming for 6 feet, 7 inches.
“I try to stay calm and focus on what I have to do,” she said before qualifying for Team USA in July. “Trust God and let things happen.”
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