@leighlanna , do you have other games you play on the Gamecube? Has the controller responded as normal for those? It sounds as if something in the controller isn't responding correctly. I've had similar experiences on my PS4 and it was the controller in those cases. Do you have another controller you can use to test this out?
Yes, and thanks for the response. So it turns out it wasn't the controller, but the player one controller port. I was originally using my wireless controller in the first plug in. After the suggestion of trying a different controller I plugged my wired controller into the same port and it didn't work at all, which made me nervous as it had worked fine before we moved this summer. So I plugged the wired one into the second port and the spinning stopped and the controller worked fine. The wireless one worked perfectly in the second port too. I guess the first portis going out.
@leighlanna , thankfully it works again! Try cleaning the first port with a can of air. Something may be dirty in it and not making a proper connection.
