Mel Long (born November 22, 1946) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL).

Career

College

He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Toledo Rockets The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The ...

and high school football for Macomber. In 1998, he was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

. The 6–1, 230-pound long played defensive tackle and was a two-time All-American, a first-team in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and a consensus selection in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. Long was selected in the 11th round (278th selection) of the

1972 NFL draft The 1972 NFL draft was the 37th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft was held on February 1 and 2 at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overal ...

by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and played for three seasons.

Military

After receiving his military draft notice, Long enlisted in the Marines and trained as a rifleman. He served in Vietnam from September 23, 1966, to October 18, 1967, where he received the Bronze Star and Navy Cross (after the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross is the highest Marine/Navy decoration for valor). He participated in Operation Tuscaloosa (January 26, 1967) and Operations Union and Union II (April to June, 1967). During the Battle of Vin Huey, an eight-hour battle in which 70% of U.S. troops were wounded or killed, Long continued to fight for hours after being wounded. Long is the most highly decorated veteran to play professional football.VFW, October 2014, page 32.

Professional football

After leaving the military, Long enrolled at the University of Toledo. Toledo led the nation in defensive statistics all three years. Toledo won the conference all three years and won the Tangerine Bowl all three seasons as well. The 1969 team went 11-0 and beat Davidson 56–35 in the Tangerine Bowl. The following season, their record was 12–0 with a 40–12 victory over William & Mary in the 1970 Tangerine Bowl. And in 1971, it was 12-0 (giving Toledo a 35–0 record for 3 years) and victory over Richmond (28-3) in the Tangerine Bowl.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Mel 1946 births Living people All-American college football players American football defensive tackles Cleveland Browns players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Players of American football from Toledo, Ohio Toledo Rockets football players