About the Publisher
O. J. Cunningham
Owen James (“O. J.”) Cunningham, Jr. (born 1943) grew up in Bay City, Michigan. He is the only child of Budd and Vicky Cunningham.
Cunningham attended St. James Grade School and St. James High School (1957–1961) in Bay City, where he played football, baseball, and basketball.
He later attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, graduating in 1965 with a degree in English and Creative Writing.
Military Career
Following graduation, Cunningham was commissioned through ROTC as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, eventually achieving the rank of Captain.
From 1966 to 1970, he served with the Strategic Air Command (SAC) in Omaha, Nebraska as a Photo-Intelligence Officer, working in Cold War satellite reconnaissance and intelligence analysis.
Journalism Career
After leaving the Air Force in 1970, Cunningham began a career in journalism in Colorado.
He worked as a reporter with the Lafayette Leader, later becoming Managing Editor of the Colorado Broomfield Star, and subsequently Managing Editor of ABC Publications’ flagship newspaper, the Aurora (Colorado) Advocate.
The Sports Page
In 1976, Cunningham returned to Bay City and founded OJ Advertising, Inc. (OJA).
That same year he launched the Bay County Sports Page, a weekly newspaper dedicated to local and recreational sports throughout Bay City and Bay County.
The publication ran for 369 weekly issues through 1984 and produced annual “Year in Review” editions each January.
In 1980, the paper expanded and was renamed the Bay City Enterprise.
During its nine-year run, Sports Page / Enterprise published more than 6,000 pages of local sports and community coverage.
Digital Publishing
From 2004 through 2014, Cunningham produced the highly successful regional online publication MyBayCity.com, serving the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan.
Preserving the Archive
Beginning in 2018, Cunningham began scanning and digitizing back issues of the Sports Page / Enterprise.
His goal has been to preserve this unique record of local sports history and make it available online for future generations.
Personal Life
Cunningham married Donna in 1977. The two first met in 1972 while working at American Hoist.
They have two children, Christopher and Jessica.
Today Cunningham is semi-retired and enjoys spending time fly-fishing on the Pere Marquette River near Baldwin, Michigan while continuing work on the Sports Page digital archive.
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