Mel Long

Mel Long
Career information
Date of birth	(1946-11-22) November 22, 1946
Place of birth	Toledo, Ohio
Position(s)	Defensive Tackle
College	Toledo
NFL draft	1972 / Round: 11 / Pick 278
Career history
As player
1972–1974	Cleveland Browns
Career stats
Playing stats at DatabaseFootball.com
College Football Hall of Fame

Mel Long (born November 22, 1946) is a former American football defensive tackle. He played college football at Toledo and high school football for Macomber. In 1998 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The 6-1, 230-pound Long played defensive tackle and was a two-time All-America, a First-team in 1970 and a consensus selection in 1971. Long was selected in the 11th round (278th selection) of the 1972 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns and played for them three seasons.

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.^[1]

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

↑ VFW, October 2014, page 32.

1971 College Football All-America Team consensus selections

Offense	QB Pat Sullivan RB Ed Marinaro RB Johnny Musso RB Greg Pruitt E Terry Beasley E Johnny Rodgers OT Dave Joyner OT Jerry Sisemore G Reggie McKenzie G Royce Smith C Tom Brahaney

Defense	DL Willie Harper DL Larry Jacobson DL Mel Long DL Walt Patulski DL Sherman White LB Jeff Siemon LB Mike Taylor DB Tommy Casanova DB Clarence Ellis DB Ernie Jackson DB Bobby Majors

Cleveland Browns 1972 NFL draft selections

Thom Darden Cliff Brooks Lester Sims George Hunt Greg Kucera Leonard Forey Don Wesley Hugh McKinnis Larry McKee Bill Lefear Herschell Mosier Mel Long Bernie Chapman Brian Sipe Ed Stewart Jewel McCuller Dick Wakefield Bill Portz

Draft years 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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