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The star of the Indiana Fever Sophie Cunningham has become the second most popular WNBA player among many fans circles in recent days after having aggressively protected his Caitlin Clark teammate against the players who struck him.
In a match against Connecticut Sun on Tuesday, Cunningham started a fight between the two teams after several physical games against Clark.
The personality and popularity of Cunningham have skyrocketed in the days that followed, when it slowly becomes an icon among the new WNBA fans.
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The number of cunningham followers on social networks quickly multiplied
June 17, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana Sophie Cunningham (8) fever guard in the second half against Connecticut Sun in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Images of Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn)
Before Tuesday’s match, Cunningham had less than 400,000 subscribers on Tiktok.
At the time of publication, it has 1.2 million on Tiktok and this number only grows.
It has an estimated increase of more than 300,000 subscribers on Instagram from the game, with a total of more than 800,000 at the time of publication.
Sportico estimates that its increase in subscribers could be worth more than a million dollars.
“This is unprecedented growth,” said Addison Abdo, who represents Cunningham as principal director of the PRP sports management agency in The Outlet. “We work with fairly large athletes who have become viral for very great things, but it is something that I have never seen before – this type of growth in this short time … was a very new territory.”
Cunningham comes from a family of southern farmers
A series of feature films in five parts of Alma Mater of Cunningham, the University of Missouri, said the roots of the southern farm of his family.
Cunningham learned to ride a horse and driven eighty in the family’s grain silos.
“A large part of our success dates back to what we have learned here,” said Cunningham, working on the farm. “We loved going out on the farm to help. We discovered how to work hard and work together. It made us hard.”
Cunningham even had a special name for his farmers’ grandparents: “Maw Maw and Paw Paw.”
Cunningham played football with boys in high school
Cunningham was born into a family of athletes, like his parents, Jim and Paula Cunningham, each did sports at the University of Missouri. His father played football and his mother competed on athletics.
Sophie therefore found herself immediately in sport.
She played daughter’s basketball and volleyball in rock Bridge High School in Missouri, but even followed her father’s traces on the football field.
A 2014 article by Columbia Missourian reported that Cunningham was the first woman to have scored points for the history team, when she kicked two of the four additional points instead of the regular botter of the team, which had undergone a torn ACL.
Cunningham even managed the kick -off tasks.
“I was so nervous,” said Cunningham at the point of sale. “I mean, I have never played football before in all my life. Just when I had the ball (when kicking off), I just heard. I just put the ball and I launched it.”
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Cunningham was able to fight since she was a very young child
With Cunningham, who wins the nickname “TheForcer” for fever, fans who count on her to protect Caitlin Clark can gain confidence by knowing that she is a black belt in Taekwondo Korean martial art.
She won the black belt at the age of six.
The experience of the martial arts of Cunningham has earned the affection of the animator of Espn Pat McAfee.
“He has the impression that Caitlin Clark will be treated in a certain way in this league for a long time. She is no longer a recruit. She has already proven herself. She gained. And then there were ladies last night who were trying to become a little physical,” said McAfee during an episode of her show on Wednesday.
May 17, 2025; Indianapolis, in, USA: Indiana Cunningham (8) fever goalkeeper poses for a photo on Saturday May 17, 2025, before a match between Indiana fever and Chicago sky in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Grace Smith- Imagn Images via Indystar)
“And last year, I think something we have noticed … When Caitlin is intimidated, nobody would do anything … they bring Sophie Cunningham, I had no idea [Clark] In the eyes? … I’m going to take a shot, and you will eat the bridge a little here. “”
Cunningham was criticized once for wearing a hat that looked like a Maga hat
In June of last year, Cunningham posted a photo of Elle carrying a red hat with a white text on social networks, and swarms of criticism rushed to denounce it for the perceived support of Donald Trump.
June 17, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana: The Indiana Cunningham (8) and the Connecticut JACY Sheldon (4) fever goalkeeper fight in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Images of Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn)
However, the hat simply said “was hot cowgirl”.
The Cunningham team at the time, the Phoenix Mercury, even had to make a message from the team’s official account to clarify what the hat said.
Outkick previously reported that Cunningham had been regularly criticized by WNBA fans who nicknamed it “Magi Barbie”.
The official political opinions of Cunningham are unknown.
