Earlier than “Fox NFL Sunday” goes reside on air, Howie Lengthy is seen writing. Ask the colleagues round him on the set, and so they’ll say he’s at all times writing.
Michael Strahan teases Lengthy about it. Jimmy Johnson laughs at what he calls “volumes” of notes. Terry Bradshaw lovingly calls the often-serious Lengthy “boring” when he doesn’t chime in on jokes — primarily as a result of he’s centered on his notes. Jay Glazer stated Lengthy’s handwriting is so small that he has no concept how Lengthy reads his notes.
Regardless of the state of affairs, Lengthy makes positive to jot down detailed notes—even when he admits to utilizing lower than 10 p.c of these.
“It’s the way in which I’ve at all times carried out issues. Everyone’s obtained their little quirks, and people are mine,” Lengthy stated.
It’s laborious to argue with Lengthy’s method. Consideration to element helped him turn into a 1981 second-round NFL Draft choose from Villanova and carve out a Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame profession as a defensive lineman with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. Consideration to element is also a purpose for his standout profession in broadcasting, as he’s put collectively a résumé highlighted by 30-plus years with Fox.
That focus and element carry over into the remainder of his life, as properly. The meticulous method to being a father and husband is just like how he aspired for greatness taking part in for the Raiders and the way he has honed his craft as a broadcaster.
He may be the goal of a joke together with his colleagues and friends, however due to Lengthy’s preparation with all the pieces he does, so lots of them would be the first to say they admire and respect him as an individual.
“Every thing that Howie does, he’s extraordinarily thorough, and he’s as ready as any particular person I’ve ever recognized,” Johnson stated. “Doesn’t make any distinction what endeavor it’s — whether or not it’s preparing for ‘Fox NFL Sunday,’ whether or not it’s preparing for a soccer sport, whether or not it’s speaking to his sons of their preparation for a sport or for tv — he’s as totally ready as anyone I’ve ever recognized.”
Lengthy away from soccer tv is a narrative in itself. He’s a fortunately married man and a devoted father and grandfather. He’s the individual Glazer consults with relating to fatherhood, in addition to the blueprint for a profitable marriage. Rob Gronkowski stated Lengthy is a useful work colleague and a good stronger position mannequin.
And Bradshaw has a lot belief in him that it was Lengthy he first confided in after discovering out he had most cancers in 2021.
The Fox crew as soon as had programming conferences in California scheduled on Saturdays. Lengthy requested if conferences might as a substitute be moved to Sunday mornings to have touring time after watching Chris play highschool soccer in Virginia on Friday nights. The community agreed to Sundays with one main caveat: The primary time Bradshaw was late, conferences would return to Saturdays.
Lengthy made himself answerable for selecting up Bradshaw to ensure he could be on time.
“Howie is perhaps the perfect human being I do know,” stated Invoice Richards, government producer of “Fox NFL Sunday.” “It’s simply who he’s, 24/7, and he’s not 1 p.c faux.”
Raiders legend Howie Lengthy in attendance tonight. pic.twitter.com/gvtS04VsqW
— Vegas Sports activities As we speak (@VegasSportsTD) December 17, 2024
Lengthy’s sample of devotion begins together with his late grandmother, Elizabeth Hilton Mullan, who raised him and helped instill core values. Lengthy, who turns 65 in January, grew up within the Nineteen Seventies throughout desegregation in Boston, and Mullan instilled in him to deal with all individuals the identical.
A stellar highschool athletic profession allowed him to discover a dwelling within the Philadelphia space, the place he performed school soccer at Villanova. A four-year letter winner, Lengthy was the MVP of the 1980 Blue-Grey Soccer Basic — regardless of the very fact he made the workforce solely as an damage alternative. Lengthy stated he was chosen as a result of he performed in highschool with the son of one of many coaches on the choice committee, Harvard’s Joe Restic.
Lengthy’s coach within the sport? Jimmy Johnson.
“He obtained the MVP award not solely by being a superb participant however, from what I recall, he blocked a kick,” Johnson stated of Lengthy. “We weren’t supposed to dam kicks in that sport, however he ended up being the MVP due to it.”
Lengthy’s at all times chosen to be overprepared slightly than underprepared, so his no-nonsense method isn’t for present.
A soccer play lasts just a few seconds, and on tv, Lengthy would possibly converse for 20-25 seconds at a time. However he would slightly be prepared to debate a backup proper guard than enter a dialog unprepared. It’s a part of what his colleagues at Fox admire about Lengthy — the preparation and dedication to the craft.
It’s additionally why they chuckle about Lengthy. As a result of amid a Bradshaw joke, who actually needs to speak about the proper guard?
However Lengthy’s method works for him.
“You simply fill your head with data. What’s the hurt in being overprepared?” he stated. “I don’t know another means.”
Lengthy’s regimented methods yielded outcomes on the soccer area. He was an eight-time Professional Bowler and a three-time All-Professional, and he was part of the Raiders workforce that gained Tremendous Bowl XVIII in Tampa, Fla. He was inducted into the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame in 2000.
Howie Lengthy earned his Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame gold jacket in 2000. (Kirby Lee / USA As we speak)
Being a creature of behavior was a giant purpose why. Lengthy stated for years he took the identical path to Raiders follow. If the Eighties groups didn’t present meals within the facility like groups do now, he’d cease on the similar restaurant for breakfast.
Lengthy stated he at all times took diligent notes as a Raider. When making ready for an opponent, he is perhaps instructed a workforce runs a sure play out of a sure formation 14 out of 20 instances. Listening to that was solely a part of the planning and processing for Lengthy.
“I’d write it out 14 instances underneath the formation in order that when the (offensive) huddle broke in that formation, I might divide the sector in half with the odds,” he stated. “And so, I’d cheat my stance 3 inches.
“I’ve at all times been that form of an individual that desires to see all the pieces. I need to hear all the pieces. I need to see all the pieces that may pop up. Right here’s the factor: I feel lots of people are in all probability like this to a sure extent. By the top of the day, actually, you employ about 8 p.c of what’s in your bucket. I’d slightly be overprepared by 92 p.c than underprepared by 20 p.c.”
When Lengthy first auditioned for a place at Fox, then-producer David Hill was in search of a coach, an offensive participant and a defensive participant for an hour-long pregame present. He wished a bunch who would function some extent guard however would permit the others to precise themselves.
Being too ready virtually value Lengthy a chance. Hill was trying extra for a laid-back analyst to the place the present could be seen as conversational and fewer conventional, virtually as if mates had been sitting in a yard and speaking soccer.
“I got here in with, like, 100 pages of notes, and I’d watched each sport there was to observe,” Lengthy stated. “I actually spoke to the commissioner, spoke to coaches. … I used to be stiff, buttoned up, and tried to simply be the basic broadcaster form of man.”
Bradshaw nonetheless laughs when recalling the “6-inch stack of notes” Lengthy delivered to the tryout. “Info overload” is what Bradshaw referred to as it. However Bradshaw knew what he might finally have in a broadcast companion, and he requested Hill if he and Lengthy might audition once more collectively.
Earlier than the second audition, Bradshaw gave Lengthy a pep speak.
“I instructed Howie as finest I might, ‘Put the notes down; it’s simply me and also you overlaying this,’” Bradshaw stated. “Simply give me your opinions and be somewhat extra relaxed and never fairly as intense.”
The second probability resulted in Fox hiring Lengthy. Thirty-plus years later, Lengthy continues to be a mainstay on one among Fox’s hottest sports activities exhibits.
Lengthy nonetheless prepares with depth, virtually like somebody calling a sport slightly than as an analyst for pregame and postgame exhibits. However Strahan stated Lengthy’s analytical soccer thoughts is a bonus on the set.
Lengthy’s severe mindset typically can miss the messages of the playful facet of his colleagues, and more often than not, Lengthy is an effective sport if he’s the butt of a joke.
Teasing Lengthy’s household, nevertheless, is the road that many of the Fox crew members refuse to cross. He met his spouse, Diane, whereas at Villanova, and the 2 had been married in 1982. Two of their three sons, Chris and Kyle, had strong careers within the NFL. Chris gained a Tremendous Bowl with the New England Patriots and one other with the Philadelphia Eagles. Kyle performed seven seasons with the Chicago Bears. Lengthy’s third son, Howie Jr., works in premium gross sales for the Raiders.
Lengthy is a Professional Soccer Corridor of Famer, however he’s a proud husband, father and grandfather earlier than all. (Andy Lewis / Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures)
Strahan stated Lengthy is at all times speaking about his spouse, sons and grandchildren. He’ll FaceTime from the set with the grandchildren and is at all times exhibiting off photographs.
Something unfavorable about them — in jest or not — is a nasty concept.
“You know the way individuals say, ‘Don’t you discuss my household,’ and so they’re form of joking?” Strahan stated. “With Howie, you discuss his household, you’re by yourself. I can’t aid you.”
And typically, jokes turn into uncomfortable conditions in Lengthy’s presence. Glazer, thought-about the prankster of the Fox group, as soon as gave Lengthy a card with a faux lottery ticket for the vacations. The faux was a successful ticket for $25,000.
What occurred subsequent was in typical Lengthy trend.
“‘I feel I gained $25,000,’” Glazer recalled Lengthy saying. “He turns to the assistant who gave him the cardboard and says, ‘Right here you go. Merry Christmas.’ I’m saying, ‘No!’
“However that’s Howie. He was actually like, wow, I simply obtained $25,000 … I’m going to offer it to any individual else. That sums him.”
Lengthy as a straight shooter has been important for the expansion of Gronkowski as an analyst and the most recent member of the crew. Gronkowski, who arrived as a contributor to Fox in 2019, stated Lengthy isn’t egocentric together with his data and is somebody anybody can lean on.
“If I’m struggling to provide you with a truth or speaking level, he’ll share that indisputable fact that he has,” Gronkowski stated. “He’ll give me a speaking level, and I’ll use that speaking level. He gained’t even ask for any of the credit score. That simply exhibits what sort of man he’s, how humble he’s. He is aware of the sport of soccer like nobody else and loves to speak X’s and O’s.”
To Lengthy, the Fox crew is like household. A lot of the members have seen his three sons develop up and have profitable careers. Lengthy calls Bradshaw the older brother he by no means knew he wanted. Lengthy’s kids know Bradshaw as “Uncle Terry.”
Lengthy (proper) was one of many few individuals Terry Bradshaw confided as he handled most cancers in 2021 and 2022. (Lily Hernandez / Fox Sports activities)
Bradshaw remembers the September 2022 incident when he misplaced his breath and wanted Lengthy’s help. Lengthy was compassionate properly earlier than Bradshaw shared his analysis to the general public the next month.
“Athletes, we’re actually macho individuals,” Bradshaw stated. “We speak smack on a regular basis, however we don’t reside our lives like that. Once I had most cancers, I didn’t inform the opposite individuals, however I instructed Howie due to our friendship. He cares about me, and I wanted to speak to any individual.”
When Lengthy retired from the Raiders following the 1993 season, he discovered a second brotherhood together with his Fox colleagues. He nonetheless loves the Raiders. He’s measured when he has to debate or criticize them. It could be simple to take pictures on the workforce, however he doesn’t.
Lengthy stated he has one yr left on his Fox contract after this season. He stated he’ll proceed to work “so long as they need me to.” He jokes about ditching his trademark flattop haircut if he does retire.
In the mean time, Lengthy will proceed to get pleasure from himself and all of the moments and friendships created at Fox. Even when meaning writing extra notes, listening to extra jokes and sustaining a meticulous method to what’s been a really profitable broadcasting profession amongst a gaggle of proficient people.
“Howie is the grown-up within the room that makes positive we’ve respectability,” Richards stated. “Not that the opposite individuals aren’t, however Howie isn’t gonna allow us to cross the road in a nasty means. And that’s actually necessary to me.”
(High picture: Carmen Mandato / Getty Pictures)
