Chris Long Once Again Contemplating Retirement
Chris Long pledged his entire 2017 salary to charity after the violence in his hometown of Charlottesville. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA — Early in 2017, after he had reached his professional peak, Chris Long weighed retirement. He had won the Super Basin in early Feb as a defensive end for the New England Patriots. Growing up in Charlottesville and starring at the Academy of Virginia, he never envisioned an NFL career — let alone nine seasons, 58½ sacks and nearly $40 million in salary. He wondered whether he wanted to put his body and mind through another twelvemonth.
Every bit Long considered his options, i thought surfaced higher up the rest. In 2015, he had started the Chris Long Foundation, from which he launched several initiatives, the biggest amid them raising funds to build clean-h2o wells in Africa. He understood the platform that playing football provided. Wouldn't information technology be cool, he thought, to do one last big philanthropic campaign? So, for at least 2017, Long would remain an NFL player.
He signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles for $ane 1000000. As training camp approached and offseason practices and new playbooks piled upward, his inclination to commencement another initiative had moved to the back of his mind.
"Then," Long said, "Charlottesville happened."
On Sun, the regular season in an NFL year like no other will end. Long will give his 16th game check, like he gave the xv before, to educational equality programs designed to help underserved children. In his words, Long wanted to aid "organizations supporting educational equity and opportunity."
The violence in Charlottesville in August during rallies by white nationalists and supremacists sparked him. Long spread his entire 2017 salary to his chosen charities. He donated his starting time six game checks to educational programs in and around Charlottesville. He devoted his last ten game checks to St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia, the iii cities in which he played professionally, and asked donors to match him, an effort he branded Pledge 10 .
The causes Long supports — clean h2o in a third-world country, the welfare of military veterans and enhanced educational opportunities in the United States — reverberate his upbringing and outlook. Long grew up wanting for nothing equally the son of Hall of Fame football player and Fox Sports broadcaster Howie Long. He attended individual school and a prestigious university. He recognized his advantages, and he wanted to use them to lift others.
[From October: Chris Long donates rest of his 2017 salary to educational charities]
"I've ever believed in that location are inequities in our land," Long said in an interview while lounging on a couch in an Eagles executive office. "People's apathy or resentment for that reality has been surfacing a lot lately. And so for me, it'southward similar, 'I'm going to be a part of the solution.' "
Baronial'south protests by white nationalists and white supremacists in his hometown of Charlottesville stunned Long. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post)
What did information technology mean to be an NFL histrion in 2017? Like in no other year, politics ensnared players and philanthropy motivated them.
The Houston Texans' J.J. Watt helped raise more $37 one thousand thousand for relief in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Players across the league knelt during the national anthem in protest of racial inequality and police force brutality, and President Trump referred to such a player as a "son of a bitch." Past tardily fall, politicians used player demonstrations in entrada ads as a culture-war signal. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick — who started the anthem protest move in 2016 — donated $1 million to social causes while NFL owners chose not to employ him.
Long'southward year reflected those themes. Afterward the Super Basin, he skipped the celebration at the White Business firm. He put his arm around an Eagles teammate who protested during the anthem. He put his money behind his words. Earlier this month, he went on a self-described Twitter "thread rant" aligning himself with Kaepernick'southward views, asserting he deserves an NFL roster spot and chastising those who would utilize his philanthropy to denigrate Kaepernick.
Long is nearing his goal of raising $1 million for educational organizations. It bothers him to be held up as a paragon, especially when so many other NFL players besides give time and money, but he understands publicity helps. Information technology may be impossible to carve up Long's philanthropy from his social awareness, and to dissever Long'south social sensation from the moment.
"Whatever he believes in, he fights for," Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. "I tin can respect a guy that'south non agape to step outside the box and fight for something. Chris is the man. He's the human."
Wading into the fray
On the night of Aug. 12, Long returned abode from a grooming camp practice, sat in his motorcar and reviewed, in shock, what had happened in his tranquil dwelling house town. A right-wing rally in Charlottesville had turned tearing and mortiferous. Trump afterwards assessed responsibility to bad actors "on both sides" of the conflict. Viewing images and news stories, Long felt violated.
"Existence from Charlottesville, all eyes are on y'all," Long said. "What are you going to do about this? It'south similar: 'Are you going to be a positive influence? Are you just going to sit and watch?' It's non going to modify the earth. It'southward non going to solve the world'south problems. I have to do my little office."
[A timeline of the violence in Charlottesville]
That night, he started planning to expand the back up he had given to educational equality programs. Early in his NFL career, Long watched the documentary "Waiting for Superman," which detailed the plight of lower-income children who get passed over for lease schools. Long knew and so he wanted to champion educational opportunity.
"The biggest thing I took abroad from it was that kids know," Long said. "I had everything you could inquire for, and I was blowing off my tutors, [messing] around, all that stuff. At that place are kids in unlike neighborhoods that would have given anything to accept that opportunity. You could run into the disappointment on a child's face up if he didn't get into the right school."
After the violence in Charlottesville, he planned to aggrandize his scholarship program by altruistic his showtime six game checks, and later on in the flavour he launched Pledge 10, altruistic the remaining x checks to similar organizations in the three cities where he played professionally. Long came to understand inherent societal disadvantages through not experience only an open heed.
Long places his arm on the shoulder of teammate Malcolm Jenkins every bit he raises his fist during the national anthem. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
"He's a symbol of trying to acquire more than nearly dissimilar things, even if it doesn't directly impact you," Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith said.
"It's complicated for me, because I practice believe in white privilege," Long said. "I believe in privilege. That's a reality. You can't argue with that. I as well believe I've earned all my money, considering I've earned information technology all through playing a sport. We're supposedly all equal on the playing field. I have that unique perspective in that location. I also accept the perspective of my dad grew up with not so much. I'one thousand a generation off from that. My dad was able to give me everything through football game. I just feel similar information technology's my responsibility to plough my platform and what I've been given into something good."
Charlottesville stirred another office of Long's social sensation. Long had been open with his criticisms of the Trump assistants, including when he skipped the Patriots' Rose Garden ceremony. Trump's words and deportment after Charlottesville struck a deeper chord.
"That twenty-four hour period, I idea if there were ever an opportunity for somebody to redeem himself and step upwardly, boy, he failed miserably," Long said. "For me, I merely sat in my car that night and watched his absolute swing and a miss, and it hurt for people in this land who experience that manner on a regular basis. I was like: 'You know what? I already know all this stuff exists. Why hasn't information technology been enough for me to act more earlier Charlottesville?' I always wanted to be supportive of my peers. I felt angry."
[From October: Long says forcing players to stand for anthem will create messier situation]
On Aug. 17, the Eagles played the Buffalo Bills in a preseason game. During the anthem, Philadelphia defensive dorsum Malcolm Jenkins raised his fist. Long draped his arm around Jenkins. "I call up information technology's a good time for people that look like me to exist here for people that are fighting for equality," Long told reporters.
The origins of action
Charitable causes had pulled at Long for years. During the 2013 flavour, Long started feeling like football was not plenty. Stuck in the sport'southward regimented routine, he had grown jealous of college friends who traveled the world, taking a month to explore Republic of costa rica or a week to build Habitat for Humanity homes.
"I went to London for a football game, just that's it," Long said, recalling his thinking. "I need to go my [butt] out in the world a little bit."
Long contemplated retirement after winning the Super Bowl with the New England Patriots. (Gregory Payan/Associated Press)
Long chosen James Hall, a retired former Rams teammate. Years earlier, Hall had broached the idea of visiting Africa and climbing Mountain Kilimanjaro with Long. "I was hoping and praying he would forget about it," Hall said, laughing. Just Hall knew, deep downwards, Long would not.
His friends take long been astonished by Long'due south capacity for action. He's the one who organizes nights out when he's back habitation or plans pilgrimages to come across Willie Nelson or My Morn Jacket. In college, buddies joked with him well-nigh analysts praising his "high motor" then much that he got a tattoo on his arm with that phrase.
"Chris must get more hours in the day than the rest of us," said Macon Gunter, Long's close friend since childhood. "He has time for everyone, and he shows up to everything."
So once Long started discussing Kilimanjaro, information technology would get reality. He summitted Kilimanjaro with Hall, relishing the challenge and being awed by the beauty. On their final night, Long was having drinks with Hall at the hotel bar, celebrating the conclusion of their trip, when he heard a vocalisation yell, "Hey, Chris!"
He turned and saw broadcaster Joe Buck, whom he knew from St. Louis and because Buck worked at Fox with his dad. Buck had traveled to Tanzania with Brad Pitt's brother, Doug, also a St. Louis native, to piece of work on a clean-water project. They encouraged Long to join.
"We're halfway around the earth," Long said. "I'thousand like, 'Who is this guy who looks like Brad Pitt, and why is Joe Buck in the bar, and what the hell is going on?' "
The random encounter would shape office of Long'due south life. As he felt a pull to see the globe, Long had also started to contemplate the impact he could make. "I don't remember football is enough for me," he said.
He had played half-dozen NFL seasons. Long had quietly established a scholarship fund in Charlottesville, working with the Boys & Girls Clubs to select students who would receive tuition at St. Anne's-Belfield School, his alma mater.
[From December: NFL and players' group achieve accord, merely don't wait anthem protests to stop]
Long with his parents, Howie and Diane, at senior day in Charlottesville in 2007. (Steve Helber/Associated Printing)
Long wanted to do more than. He resented players who dabbled in clemency for the glorification of their reputation. The thought of making himself the face up of an initiative made his peel clamber, but he recognized the power of publicity. He thought he only had two or three more years left in the league, and he wanted to maximize the impact he could accept while he still possessed the influence of an NFL player.
"He's always just been hyper-aware there'due south something greater than himself," said his wife, Megan. "That he needs to do something with this platform he's been given."
Every bit Buck's invitation stayed with him, Long studied the touch on clean water could take. He'd call his mother at 2 a.m. and share ideas. The more he studied, the more he realized what a catalyzing force make clean h2o could be. Fewer hospital beds required to treat waterborne illness would mean better health care. If women and girls didn't need to trek alone to accomplish potable water, they would face less risk of sexual assault.
Long started his foundation and launched an initiative called Waterboys. He would recruit one thespian from each NFL squad, with the goal of raising plenty money to build 32 wells in Tanzania. Equally of December, Waterboys has raised $1.7 meg, served 100,000 people and seen to the building of 30 wells in Tanzania.
Long did not nourish the White House reception following the Patriots' Super Bowl win. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
"It's as simple as you're saving kids' lives, to yous're improving the efficiency of the earth," Long said. "It does everything. If you go to a village that has water and one that doesn't in Tanzania, information technology'll blow you abroad."
Subsequently Long'south embrace of Jenkins, even his charitable efforts became the target of objection. The criticism dismayed Long. What could be the negative of helping kids go educated and providing clean water? Long learned even his all-time efforts to avert politicization could exist upended, specially on social media. Even when he launched Waterboys, he heard criticism forth the lines of, "What about America?"
[Indiana legislator pushes beak seeking refunds for those offended past canticle protests]
"I think if you want to be America first, we should lead from the front," Long said. "Every bit an American citizen, nosotros've been given then much. We hit the nascence lottery. Why not help?
"I've gotten it with Pledge 10: One, you're just doing this for the publicity. Ii, people desire to become real political. They're just missing the point. They're like, 'Why is it only poor kids that yous're helping?' I'grand like: 'What? What are you talking about?' It drives y'all nuts.
"People are like, 'The government doesn't need to help schools.' I'g similar: 'I'm not the government. Nosotros're literally helping after-school programs that supplement kids who are in situations where they don't become the same schooling that your kids get. So, like, how is this unfair? We're leveling the playing field.' "
Positive reinforcements
Long remains uncomfortable with attention and acclaim. In the Eagles executive office this month, Long was shooting the breeze before the predetermined interview subject arose. "I love charity," Long said with a sheepish grin, glancing at an Eagles media relations rep. "Enquire anyone."
"If Chris had his druthers, he wouldn't get credit for the skilful he is doing in the world," Gunter said. "I think he learned that the scope of his piece of work could be expanded and that the message could be more compelling if he attached his proper noun."
Long does more than than lend his name; he's both animated and obsessed by the work. He will call Megan subsequently checking the Pledge 10 site and breathlessly inquire, "Can you believe how much St. Louis is upwards?" He calls to give thanks donors. He recruits players to participate in Conquering Kili, a part of Waterboys that pairs wounded veterans and NFL players to climb Kilimanjaro to raise money for wells in East Africa.
When Long started his charitable efforts, his biggest fearfulness was that people would non care. When Long pledged his showtime six 2017 game checks, he knew he would launch Pledge ten and donate the rest of them, too. Merely he needed more time, and he believed attention from the first six would help gather promotional momentum for Pledge ten. In the interim, he frequently heard complaints that he wasn't doing enough, that plenty of wealthy athletes could donate $100,000 or so.
"A lot of times, all the cynicism and negativity that exists, it tin kind of consume you if you let it," Long said.
Long donated a portion of his concluding x game checks of 2017 to educational charities in Boston afterward spending a flavour with the New England Patriots. (Julio Cortez/Associated Press)
During the Eagles' cheerio week in November, Long returned to Charlottesville. One night, he was shooting pool with friends at a bar. A black woman Long had never met approached him with tears in her eyes and hugged him.
"I appreciate what you lot guys did," she told him.
Long was confused. What, he asked, was she talking about? She explained how much Long wrapping his arm around Jenkins had meant to her. Long did not think the gesture deserved cheers, but he realized its importance. Information technology made him experience better about the world.
Pledge x has raised more than than $899,000. Long will donate some other $l,000 to the city that raises the well-nigh money. Later on the declaration in October, Los Angeles Rams offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth pledged $10,000 per game the rest of the season. San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead started his own Pledge ten campaign. It mattered.
What does it mean to exist an NFL histrion in 2017? In that location are Twitter trolls and opportunistic politicians and a president who wants the public to boycott them. But there are besides kids who want to learn and people who desire to help and a woman who came up to Long at a bar, crying in gratitude.
"To meet people intendance, kind of in my own niggling way, it reinforces that everything is going to be okay," Long said. "We're going to get this thing right. At that place's enough practiced people."
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Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/during-an-nfl-season-of-protests-and-criticism-chris-long-asked-why-not-help/2017/12/28/5786ff44-ebdb-11e7-b698-91d4e35920a3_story.html
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