The NEW First Family of Sports

A father finishes a College football Hall of fame career and is selected with the second overall pick in the NFL draft, leading to a 13-year pro career, that included two Pro Bowls. He then sires three sons worthy of attaining SEC football scholarships. Two of those sons then go on to be selected as top overall picks in separate NFL drafts and the youngest recently won the Super Bowl MVP, one year after the elder captured the same prize. Archie, Cooper, Peyton and Eli Manning are true NFL royalty, the modern day version of Football’s Camelot.
Meanwhile, the new First Family of Sports resides in Ivy, Virginia. After finishing his college career at Villanova, Howie Long was selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders, and with the Raiders he would spend a 15 career harassing Quarterbacks with his Rip move to the tune of 93.5 sacks. Over his career, he earned 8 trips to the Pro Bowl and he received 6 All-Pro nods to bookend his Super Bowl victory. But while the Mannings are currently ruling the NFL, his lineage is just about to get started.
His oldest son Chris has just finished up an award-winning career at the University of Virginia, where like his father he was an All-American. Chris captured the Dudley and Ted Hendricks trophies and could be selected the No. 1 or 2 overall pick in this April’s draft and at worst No. 4. Chris’s elder younger brother Kyle is certainly not his little brother. While Chris stands 6-4 279 and is the prototypical size for Defensive End, Kyle is even bigger at 6’7 280. Despite dominating on the gridiron for St. Anne’s Belfield School in Charlottesville, Kyle has committed to Florida State, to play baseball. But here is where it gets interesting for the family. Kyle may never step foot in Tallahassee as major league baseball scouts love the southpaw’s arm Reports indicate the projected closer lights up radar guns upwards of 96 mph. Kyle could be the second member of the Long clan to be selected in the first round in as many months. Though Seminole message boards are begging the pre-season collegiate baseball All-American to come pitch the school, first round money might put Kyle on the fast track to the majors.
The youngest Long, Howie Jr., recently committed to play college lacrosse for Dom Starsia at traditional powerhouse UVA. Though Howie Jr., is smaller than both of his brothers, he still has earned his way into the sports spotlight and he dominates the sport that both his older brothers once played at StAB.
While the Mannings have a stronghold on football, the Long’s diversity gives them the edge when it comes to the title of “First Family of Sports.” Surely both patriarchs beam with pride when discussing their next generation, but only one still looks the part. A UVA insider revealed that, during a game this past season he ran into Papa Long in one of the Private Suites at Scott Stadium, and Long certainly impressed. “He looked so sharp, like he could probably strap on the pads and have played that day.”
The Mannings with Eli and Peyton may be the football’s present, but the Longs, led by Kyle, Howie, Jr., and Chris, are the sports’ world’s future. And that future is nearly here