Former Gamecocks football player, Kevin Long dies at 69
Columbia, S.C. (AP) —
Kevin Long, who played running back at South Carolina before getting drafted by the New York Jets, has died at age 69.
The university said Long died Tuesday. Curtis Frye, the former track coach at South Carolina who was a close friend of Long, spoke with Long’s wife and informed the university of his death. A cause of death was not provided.
Long, who was from Clinton, South Carolina, played with the Gamecocks from 1973-76 and became the first running back in program history to surpass 1,000 yards in a season with 1,133 in 1975.
Long is 10th on the school’s all-time rushing list with 2,372 yards. He is a member of the university’s athletic Hall of Fame along with the state of South Carolina’s Hall of Fame.
Long was taken by the Jets in the seventh round of the 1977 NFL draft. He played there five seasons, rushing for 2,190 yards and 25 touchdowns. He caught 74 passes for 539 yards and three TDs.
He finished his career in the United States Football League.
South Carolina running back great Kevin Long has died. He was 69 years old. Long died Tuesday, according to a statement from USC. He an athletics Hall of Fame member for both the university and the state of South Carolina.
From the town of Clinton, Long was a four-year letterman for the Gamecocks at running back from 1973-76. He is 10th on the school’s all-time career rushing list with 2,372 yards. Desiring to be like Jim Brown and not quiet about it, Long finally earned his shot in coach Jim Carlen’s split-veer system. Long was the first Gamecock to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season with 1,133 yards in 1975. That feat ranks sixth all-time at USC. In that 1975 season, he had six games with more than 100 yards, including a career-best 160 yards against N.C. State.
