Howie Long

Long met his future wife, Diane Addonizio, during his freshman year at Villanova University. The couple married on June 27, 1982, and have three sons.

Athletic achievement extends throughout the family. Their eldest son, Chris Long, played 11 seasons in the NFL as a defensive end, winning Super Bowl titles with both the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. Their second son, Kyle Long, played offensive guard in the NFL for the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs. Their youngest son, Howie Long Jr., pursued a career in football operations, working in player personnel for the Raiders organization.

Long is a Roman Catholic. He has also been actively involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, serving as an alumnus and volunteer.

Howard Matthew Moses Long was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, and raised primarily in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston by his maternal grandmother and uncles. He attended Milford High School in Worcester County, Massachusetts, where he excelled in track and field, basketball, and football. In track, he set state records in the shot put and discus, while also competing in the javelin.

Long attended Villanova University near Philadelphia, where he earned a degree in communications. A four-year letterman on the football team, he began his college career at tight end before transitioning to the defensive line, playing nose guard and defensive end. Long led the Wildcats in sacks during his sophomore and senior seasons, earning All-East honors and an honorable mention All-American selection in 1980. That same season, he was selected to the Blue-Gray Football Classic and named the game's Most Valuable Player. In addition to football, Long competed in collegiate boxing and became the Northern Collegiate Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

The Oakland Raiders selected Long in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft with the 48th overall pick. He played 13 seasons for the franchise, wearing jersey number 75 through the team's move to Los Angeles. Long broke into the starting lineup during the 1982 season and developed a reputation for his quickness and signature "rip" pass-rushing technique.

During the 1983 regular season, Long collected a career-high 13 sacks, including a five-sack performance against the Washington Redskins on October 2. He helped lead the Raiders to a 38-9 victory over Washington in Super Bowl XVIII, anchoring a defensive unit that held Washington to 90 rushing yards on 32 carries. Long earned his first Pro Bowl selection that season, starting a run of five consecutive selections from 1983 to 1987.

In 1985, Long shared the NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year award with Andre Tippett after registering 10 sacks. He was selected to eight Pro Bowls, earned three first-team All-Pro honors, and was chosen for the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team. Over his 179 career games, Long recorded 84 official sacks, 10 fumble recoveries, and two interceptions. At the time of his retirement after the 1993 season, he was the final player remaining on the roster who had played for the franchise in Oakland prior to its relocation. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

Following his retirement from professional football, Long transitioned into television broadcasting. In 1994, he joined the Fox network as a studio analyst for its NFL pregame and postgame programming, frequently serving as the grounded counterpart to co-host Terry Bradshaw.

Long won a Sports Emmy Award in 1996 for Outstanding Sports Personality/Analyst. In addition to his studio role, he hosted the annual television special Howie Long's Tough Guys and contributed columns for Fox Sports. He also co-authored the instructional guide Football for Dummies with John Czarnecki, published in 2003 as part of the Wiley Publishing series.

Long expanded into film acting during the 1990s, focusing primarily on action and suspense roles. In 1996, he co-starred as Kelly alongside John Travolta and Christian Slater in the action thriller Broken Arrow. A stock vocal recording captured from his character's death sequence in the film subsequently became an industry-standard sound effect known as the "Howie scream."

In 1998, Long took on the lead role of firefighter Jesse Graves in the action film Firestorm and played Reager in the television movie Dollar for the Dead. He later portrayed Jack in the 2001 heist film 3000 Miles to Graceland alongside Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell. Long also made commercial appearances for national brands such as RadioShack, Nike, Campbell's Chunky Soup, and Chevrolet.