Kevin Long, a South Carolina high school and college standout and a solid Jets running back for five seasons in the late Seventies and early Eighties, died Tuesday. He was 69.
Long was the seventh-round selection of the Jets, 195th overall, in the 1977 NFL Draft and joined a crowded backfield that included Bruce Harper, Clark Gaines, Scott Dierking and Tom Newton when he arrived and added first-rounder Freeman McNeil and Scott Augustyniak in 1981. What earned No. 33 playing time and respect from his teammates and Jets fans as the Green & White slowly built toward their '81 playoff berth was his tough short-yardage running and his nose for the end zone.
Long had a game of two TDs or more in each of his last four seasons — including a pair of games with three rushing scores, against Buffalo in 1978 and vs. Detroit in '79, making him one of only eight different Jets runners with three rush TDs in a game and one of only four runners who did it twice.
Among Long's other highlights: He had a pair of 100-yard rushing games in 1978, both against the Baltimore Colts. He ran for a career-high 136 yards and a TD on 26 carries at Memorial Stadium, then seven weeks later carried 19 times for 107 yards in the win at Shea Stadium.
He also had 100 yards on 25 carries and plowed across the goal line from a yard out with 1:38 to play to lift the Jets to a hard-fought 14-7 road win over the Falcons in 1980.
"Kevin was fantastic," head coach Walt Michaels said after the game. "And the players recognized it when they gave him a game ball."
"I'm not an Earl Campbell, but I have quick feet," Long told Newsday said of his star turn in Atlanta, not far from his boyhood home. "I made a lot of cutback runs because they were slanting so much, giving me a chance to go against the grain. Sure it felt good, but the line was blocking great, like it used to when we were the top rushing team a year ago."
Indeed, in '79 Long was a member of the band of brother backs on the Green & White who led the NFL in rushing offense.
Additionally, Long was tied for the fifth-most third-/fourth-and-1 conversions among RBs in franchise history, pounding his way to 42 conversions on 60 attempts and converting 13 of 17 tries in '81 alone.
For his career in green and white, Long played in 73 games with 33 starts, including all 16 games in 1978. He had 574 carries for 2,190 yards and 25 touchdowns and 74 receptions for 539 yards and three TDs, all in '81. He scored 28 touchdowns for his career, including the 10 he had in his signature season of '78, when he also compiled his career-high 1,158 scrimmage yards. He added a 29th TD in the '81 playoff loss to the Bills.
He played only for the Jets in his NFL career but finished his playing days with three teams — the Chicago Blitz, Arizona Wranglers and Arizona Outlaws — in the USFL from 1983-85.
Long played his high school ball in Clinton, SC, then stayed close to home and starred for three seasons at the University of South Carolina. He became the first Gamecock to rush for 1,000 yards in a season when he clocked in at 1,133 yards in 1975. He is a member of the USC Hall of Fame and the State of South Carolina HOF.
Long met his wife, Frankie, when they were students at USC, and were married for 46 years. They had four children, Kevin, Latifah, Alisa and Salia; and six grandchildren.
The public viewing and funeral service for Long will be held Friday at Myers Mortuary & Cremation Services in his hometown of Columbia, with a celebration of his life being held the next day at New Ebenezer Baptist Church, also in Columbia.
