Cunningham could turn pro 'today or tomorrow'

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Randall Cunningham indicated Friday morning that his daughter Vashti, a high school senior at Bishop Gorman NV and a medal contender this weekend in the high jump at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, could sign a professional contract in the next couple of days.

At a press conference at Portland's Marriott Hotel, the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback said he had appointments later in the day to meet with shoe companies on behalf of Vashti, who broke the world junior record last weekend in Portland with 6 feet, 6.25 inches.

Cunningham said that his daughter could turn pro “today or tomorrow possibly.”

“We’re in negotiations,” Cunningham said. “We’re just waiting to see.”

Vashti is the product of tremendous athletic genetics. Not only did her father break the mold of NFL quarterback’s with his arm strength and mobility, her mother Felicity is a former ballet dancer.  

The women’s high jump is scheduled for 1 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday.

Cunningham said Friday morning that her top college choices were USC and Georgia, with Oregon third. But that could become a moot point.

Randall Cunningham said he had studied the path taken by Allyson Felix, who turned pro out of LA Baptist High School and attended USC while she began her professional career.

Vashti said her results this weekend and the success of negotiations would be factors in making her decision.

“I’m not sure yet if I’m going to college or turning pro,” she said. “How I end up jumping, who offers to endorse me, stuff like that (will determine the decision).”

For Vashti to follow that script would make some sense. Her older brother Randall Jr. attends USC and is a high jumper for the Trojans.

The high school senior prefers to deflect attention but she seems to thrive athletically when she is placed in front of a crowd in competition.

“In practices I don’t make anything, ever,” she said. “I miss 6 feet, I miss 5-10. When it comes to the meet, I don’t know, it’s just different. You just feel you need to get this and it flows a lot better than it does at practice.”

Despite Vashti’s early success in the sport, Randall Cunningham has deliberately brought his daughter along slowly and conservatively. He held her back from competing head to head with the top U.S. women in 2015, eschewing a possible chance to compete at the IAAF World Championships, in order to take a smaller step up and compete for the junior team at the Pan Am Juniors in Canada.

“I saw some of the comments,” Randall said. “Dwight Stones made a comment where he said it was a mistake. She’s a young girl. We have a strategy for everything we do. We’re not going to do things just because (someone expects it). We want her on the U.S. team and she was. She went to Pan American Juniors.”

As an example of the long term approach he has used with Vashti, Cunningham said he was bringing her along slowly with weight room workouts.

“Everything is in an atmosphere where she can get a little bit stronger, a little bit stronger, a little bit stronger. I don’t believe in having kids peak out in high school and I train a lot of kids. I want them to have more room when they move to the next level,” he said.

Some things, however, simply cannot wait any longer.

Cunningham already has her sights set on 6-7 (2.01), a height that would place her among the top 20 women of all-time indoors.

It’s time to try and win gold in a global competition – this weekend in Portland and this summer at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.