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HOWIE LONG

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After being named the Most Valuable Player in the 1980 Blue-Gray Game Defensive End at Villanova was expected to go in the first round. But when the Oakland Raiders selected the 6-5, 270 pound Long in the second round of the 1981 draft, he was considered a "diamond in the rough." What the Raider scouts saw at the time was a young untrained talent with a burning desire to be the best.

At the time, Longs future, as a pro seemed uncertain. Determined to succeed, Howie set personal goals and worked hard to achieve them. "My goal as a rookie was simply to make the team," he said in 1984. "My second year I wanted to be a starter. Then my third year I wanted to make the Pro Bowl." Having achieved each of those goals he was asked if he had a new one. Without hesitation the four-year veteran defensive end replied, "I want to be a Hall of Famer. I want it desperately."

Howie Long's rise to pro football stardom was not an easy journey. Raised in the tough, blue-collar town of Charlestown, Massachusetts, outside of Boston, his parents divorced when he was twelve years old. He went to live with this grandmother and then a succession of aunts and uncles.

At the age of 14, he moved in with an aunt and uncle in the Boston suburb of Milford and began attending Milford High School. At Milford he turned his sometimes-misdirected energies to sports. He ran track and played football and basketball. Howie credits Milford football coach Dick Corbin with making a real impact on his life by inviting him out for the football team.

"I was shocked that I was good at it," Long said. I'd never played on a team until high school. It gave me a sense of belonging, a focus, and helped build my confidence. I never imagined myself going on to anything in football - it wasn't even a lifetime dream of mine."

Howie Long received an athletic scholarship to attend Villanova where he not only excelled at football, but was also the Northern Collegiate boxing champion. Although he developed his football skills at Villanova, leading the team in sacks as a sophomore and senior, his football skills didn't capture the attention of many pro scouts.

"Villanova is a terrific school, but its football program had a lot of challenges when I was there," Long commented. But following his MVP performance in the Blue-Gray Game, scouts descended on him "by the planeloads."

It was the Raiders defensive line coach Earl Leggett, who scouted Long and lobbied hard for him in a heated battle with the team's other coaches during the 1981 draft. "Earl Leggett is responsible for Howie Long the football player, more than anyone," Long proclaimed. "If it weren't for Earl Leggett, I wouldn't be much, just another Joe Blow. And that's a fact."

Leggett made Howie his personal project. He worked him at every position along the line. Every practice was something different for the up and coming pro football star.

Although he didn't become an immediate started his first year in Oakland, Howie's versatility paid off. He led the team in sacks as a rookie playing both end and tackle. Halfway through his second season - first for the Raiders in Los Angeles - Leggett moved him into a starting role. The "diamond in the rough: was about to emerge as a real gem.

In 1983, Long recorded a career high 13 sacks, including five in one game against the Washington Redskins, a team the Raiders would again face in Super Bowl XVIII. The Raiders trampled the Redskins 38-9 in the Super Bowl that year. Howie was named All-Pro and to the first of his eight Pro Bowls. He became just the second Raider defensive lineman to earn the post-season honor.

"There were guys bigger, guys who were stronger, guys who were meaner," said teammate Matt Millen. "But none of them put it together in the same blend. He did everything."

Always in top condition, Long never missed a game due to injury until midway through the 1986 season when he missed three games, ending a streak of 81 consecutive games played. Nonetheless he was voted the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by fans and a national media panel.

The next two seasons, however, were difficult for Long. A strike-shortened 1987 season, an injury plagued 1988 campaign. Long continued to fight through a series of nagging injuries for the following five seasons, being named to his eighth Pro Bowl appearance in 1995. Although he had been considering retirement for some time, when he learned he had tied teammate and coach Art Shell's Pro Bowl mark, he decided it was time to call it quits. In his retirement announcement Howie Long said, "Many things drive you. You want to be the best at what you do. You want to win a world championship and you want to go to the Pro Bowl. I wanted to be the Art Shell of the defensive line for the Raiders."