Install

Get the latest updates as we post them — right on your browser

Today's paper. Last Updated: 05/30/2012

Czar's Coach Arrested

Like a ship without a captain or a country without a czar, a team without a coach can go quickly astray.


The Russian Czars, an American-style football team touring the United States for the first time, lost their coach Eldon Cunningham when he was arrested at a football practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for failure to pay child support.


Cunningham, who took the Czars to the States last week, was escorted off the field during the joint practice with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Thursday as his team stood by helplessly.


He has been charged with failure to make a single child support payment after a Texas court ordered him to do so 44 months ago, The Associated Press reported.


With Cunningham awaiting extradition to Texas in a local Kentucky jail, his rudderless football team fell to the Hilltoppers 45-14 on Saturday. The Czars lost under the guidance of Western Kentucky offensive backfield coach Lee Murray.


Cunningham, 41, an American football trailblazer in Russia, has been involved with organizing football in Moscow for the past two years. After leaving the Moscow Bears, another Russian team, Cunningham founded the Russian Czars, taking as many as 20 players from the Bears. With a collection of former rugby players, wrestlers and other athletes, Cunningham fashioned a 34-man squad worthy of a tour in the heartland of American football.


In their first game last week against Team U. S. A. , a U. S. Football Federation team made up of professional and amateur players from all over the United States, the Czars were trounced 35-0.


Leading up to their second game with the Hilltoppers, Western Kentucky coach Jack Harbaugh, father of Chicago Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh, agreed to have a joint practice with the Czars.


The charges that led to Cunningham's arrest were filed on Sept. 1 by Debra Faye Worley, the mother of his two daughters, Ashley Marie, 7, and Tiffany Arlene, 4. The warrant from Texas ordered Cunningham to make payments of $350 per month in child support, AP reported.


Cunningham remains in jail without bond for fear he might flee the country, according to AP.


His players were scheduled to return to Russia on Monday, but their situation was unclear with Cunningham sidelined.




This article has no comments.

Be the first to leave a comment


Discussion
The Moscow Times welcomes your comments and invites you to discuss topics with other readers. Your comment will be posted automatically to enable a live discussion. If you aren't familiar with our comments policy, you can read it here.

If you're a registered user, you can start typing your comment below. If not, take a moment to sign up. and then return to the article.

If your comment doesn't appear, contact us by using our web form.

Comments

Comments via Facebook



print


Comments

This article has no comments.

Be the first to leave a comment





Most Read