About Me
Hi! My name is Steve Cunningham, but all of my past players call me, Coach. While I’m recently back coaching High school basketball, I spend much of my time studying and teaching stock options trading. I am now The Options Coach.
I would like to tell you a little about my life; it’s been a life of many careers and much multi-tasking, so I’ll have to give you the “Cliff Notes” version. I’m from a very modest, middle-class family. Born in Brooklyn, I grew up on Staten Island in New York City. In my early years, I played basketball every day and had a very nice high school and college playing career.
After college I developed a desire to coach basketball and took my first position as the JV coach at my high school alma mater. To help my coaching career, I worked at some of the biggest summer camps with some of the best and most influential coaches in the country. Coaching basketball was a field I developed a love for that was life-changing. As you read the pages of this website, you will realize the love I have for teaching fundamentals in whatever I’m teaching.
Although basketball was a major love in my life, my proudest career moment came in 1981 when I was appointed to the New York City Fire Department. Living in NYC, this job came with a lot of prestige. I was young, with a great job, and a very flexible schedule to pursue what I loved: playing and coaching basketball. Not only did I have a job on the best fire department in the world, I was picked to play on the NYC Fire Department All-Star Basketball Team. A team picked from over 10,000 firefighters to travel the world, playing basketball, representing the NYC Fire Department. Life was good! What made it even better, most traveling was done in the spring and summer months so it didn’t interfere with my high school and college coaching aspirations.
Besides a few summer jobs while I was a teenager, the NYC Fire Department was the only job I had where I had a superior. At the latter part of my FDNY career, I was getting more and more into the stock market and the idea of being in control of my future. With two children approaching their high school years and the thought of college tuition weighing on me, I decided to get into business which did not end with just one. My first was a neighborhood bar. Go figure! A NYC firefighter owning a bar lol! Five years later, I bought a nightclub. It was a live music venue in Greenwich Village, NYC. Two years later, I built my second nightclub — a “House Music” club. According to DJ Magazine, it was one of the top 100 nightclubs in the world. Two years later, I bought a pizza joint in Greenwich Village and a year after that a steakhouse. I had four going at one time. Now after over 20 years in business, I’m down to just the pizza place and options trading. The pizza place, Fiore’s Pizza, is named after one of my closest friends, Mike Fiore. Mike was a basketball friend from before we were on the NYC Fire Dept. He also played on the Fire Dept All-Star Team with me. Mike made the supreme sacrifice responding to the terror attack on the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001. Among the 343 NYC firefighters we lost that day were four guys I played with on the All-Star team: Mike Fiore, Tommy Hannifin, Charlie Kaspar and Scott Davidson. I’d say this life-changing event put life in perspective! If you’re ever in NYC, stop in for a slice of good New York pizza. While you’re there, you can learn a little about Mike Fiore. Fiore’s Pizza is located at 165 Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village.
In all of my work years, I never had a job on Wall Street. It was never my thing! I’m not a 9 to 5 type of guy. I’m not a shirt and tie type of guy. I’m a street smart basketball player, coach, business owner, who never wanted to have a boss, and I love living life on my own terms. I have a deep love for family and friends and love living life to its fullest. My children grew to be two of the most beautiful human beings in the world. Stephen Jr is one of the youngest Captain with the NYC Fire Department and is married to his beautiful wife, Bria, a Special Ed. teacher with the New York City Board of Education. My daughter, Jaclyn is a CPA and has two beautiful children with her husband, Bob. Bob is an engineer. I’d say I have a very blessed life, and a lot to be thankful for. Today, I live with my beautiful wife Irene, running my pizza joint, while I teach and trade options every day. Irene is a stand-up comedian, check out her sites, Website, Facebook, Instagram. I look forward to you who live on Main Street, USA, continuing to read this site and joining me in building wealth while we beat the hell out of Wall Street!