The first time Howie Long stepped into the Oakland Raiders'
locker room, he felt unworthy to pull on the silver-and-black
uniform.
"Excellence was the benchmark and anything short of that was
unacceptable," he said.
|  | | Howie Long had 84 sacks in his 13-year NFL career. |
Two decades later, Long will show that he more than belonged. He
joins Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Dave Wilcox and Pittsburgh owner
Dan Rooney for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on
Saturday.
Long was a long shot to play in the NFL, much less be considered
one of the game's best.
He never played organized team sports until he was 15. He grew
up in the tough, blue-collar Boston neighborhood of Charlestown.
His parents divorced when he was 12 and he went to live with his
grandmother and a succession of aunts and uncles.
Though he was 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds as a sophomore, Long was
as shocked as anyone when he excelled at football. He went to
Villanova, hardly a college football power. Long became one of the
top players and won a Northern Collegiate boxing championship. But
few scouts noticed him because of the Wildcats' mediocre program.
However, he opened their eyes when he was selected as MVP in the
1980 Blue-Gray all-star game. Selected in the second round of the
NFL draft by the Raiders -- and seen as a raw project -- Long pulled
off another surprise when he made one of the league's best teams as
a rookie.
The Raiders' defensive line coach, Earl Leggett, was a big
reason why.
"I think there was a possibility he still would have been
around in the third round," Leggett said. "Nobody was really
after him."
But Leggett pushed Al Davis and the rest of the Raiders' staff
into taking Long. Leggett saw something in Long that few others
did.
Other players were bigger and quicker, but few were as smart,
fast and strong as Long.
"I'd like to think I was a good combination of the three,"
Long said.
He was also driven to be better instead of satisfied with the
past.
"I never seemed to enjoy any success," he said. "I was never
happy with my play. I never allowed myself the luxury of enjoying a
particular game or particular season."
With Leggett schooling him, Long grew into the role of
intimidating defensive end and tackle.
"He built me from the ground up to be a complete football
player," Long said of Leggett.
But Long also learned from such veterans as Art Shell and Gene
Upshaw.
"The Raider way was 'the old bring up the young,"' Long said.
By his second year, Long was a starter. In his third season, the
Raiders won the Super Bowl and Long was chosen for the first of his
eight Pro Bowls.
"There are guys who are bigger, guys who are stronger, guys who
are meaner," teammate Matt Millen said. "But none of them puts it
together the way he does. Nobody has his blend. He does
everything."
Long never missed a game because of injury until midway through
the 1986 season, ending a streak of 81 consecutive games played.
After sitting out three games, he played so well thereafter he was
voted the NFL's defensive player of the year by fans and a national
media panel.
Long, a father of three and now an NFL analyst on TV, never
forgot the feeling of awe from that first visit to the Raiders'
locker room. And he never forgot how his teammates made him a
better player.
"When you are around those types of players, it allows you in
the back of your mind to dream a little bit of someday being
mentioned in the same breath with them," Long said.
| |
ALSO SEE
Howie Long's career highlights
|
