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Chuck Long          

Position(s): QB

HIGH SCHOOL: Chuck Long attended North High School and lived in or near Wheaton, Illinois. Born in Norman, Oklahoma, he later moved to Illinois. He wasn't highly recruited (other offers were Northern Illinois and Northwestern) and eventually accepted a scholarship to play at Iowa for Hayden Fry.

COLLEGE: In 1985, he led the Hawkeyes to the #1 ranking during the season, and won the Big Ten title outright for the first time in 27 years.

His Iowa teams compiled a 35–13–1 record. He graduated with 10,461 passing yards and 74 touchdowns on 782 completions. he holds the best completion percentage of any college quarterback all-time who has attempted more than 1,000 career passes. He was also the first Big Ten player and just the second player in college football history to throw for more than 10,000 yards in a career. He is believed to be the only collegiate player to participate in five bowl games.

He accumulated numerous awards. He won the 1985 Maxwell Award, given to the nation's top player and the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top quarterback. He was a 3x All-Big Ten Quarterback, the Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus first team All-American. Finally, he was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

PROFESSIONAL: He was drafted #12 overall by the Detroit Lions in the 1986 NFL Draft. His best season was 1987, in which he threw 2,598 yards, 11 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He played for the Lions from 1986–1989 before being traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1990. After one year in Los Angeles, he returned to Detroit for the 1991 season, though he did not attempt any passes.

OTHER: He coached at Iowa (during transition from Fry to Ferentz), Oklahoma, San Diego State (head coach), Kansas, Norman High School (OK), and most recently the St. Louis BattleHawks of the XFL. He also is a broadcaster for the Big Ten Network. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Born 2/18/1963 and is 61 years old.

      

BOOKS and MOVIES

Chuck Long: Destined for Greatness: The Story of Chuck Long and Resurgence of Iowa Hawkeyes Football (10/13/2017)
The year is 1981. The U.S. space shuttle Columbia takes its first flight. Ronald Reagan becomes president and Muhammad Ali officially retires with 55 wins. 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' debuts in theatres, the term 'Internet' is first mentioned and Post It Notes are launched by 3M Corp. And the Iowa Hawkeyes are struggling mightily to gain respectability on the football field after decades as a Big Ten Conference doormat. Hayden Fry, a larger-than-life character and river boat gambler with Texas roots, had arrived in Iowa City in 1979. Now, in his all-important third year as head coach, it's make-or-break time for a man doggedly determined to transform a beleaguered program into a national powerhouse. While the team has many needs, one of the most important is a strong leader at quarterback. Unexpectedly, Hayden and his staff sign a blonde-haired, six-foot-four quarterback named Chuck Long. Safe to say the son of Charlie and Joan Long was as much a mystery to Iowa fans as winning. Only two other universities offered Chuck a scholarship - Northwestern and Northern Illinois. The lack of suiters wasn't surprising. Chuck averaged just a handful of throws per start as a high school signal caller for a Falcons team coached by Jim Rexilius. Even in Wheaton North's 14-6 victory over LaSalle-Peru in the 1979 4A Illinois state football championship game, Chuck completed just one of four passes for minus-three yards. Now, Chuck Long is an Iowa Hawkeye. And as he waits to make first team as quarterback, Coach Hayden Fry takes to the microphones as the 1982 campaign approaches and, in front of a gaggle of reporters, proclaims the sophomore-to-be as 'destined for greatness.' Reporters are nearly speechless. Hawkeye fans are bewildered. Chuck Long? Destined for greatness? Chuck Long - the same kid who hasn't taken a snap as a starter? Yep, that Chuck Long. The QB responds to the high praise from his head coach by taking the field just weeks later in his first start against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln only to get bruised, battered and benched in a 42-7 drubbing. One week later, the Hawkeyes host in-state rival Iowa State and lose again as Chuck watches from the sidelines. So much for the 'destined for greatness' talk. Then again, Chuck Long isn't your ordinary quarterback and Hayden Fry isn't your ordinary coach. In a twist of fate not even Hollywood could script, Chuck and the Iowa Hawkeyes quickly right the ship and set sail on a voyage that would ultimately take them (and the state of Iowa) into the national spotlight. At the heart of it all was a once-obscure quarterback who played for a high school football program that featured the run - a quarterback that would become Iowa's most celebrated signal callers, play in an unprecedented five college bowl games, throw for more yards than any other quarterback in Big Ten history, finish runner-up for the Heisman Trophy to a kid named Bo from Auburn University and hear his name called in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft. Sound too good to be true? Not if you're destined for greatness.

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