Byline: Nolan Weidner Staff writer
The brown hair has long since grown back.
And the smile? Well that never really left Rob Long's face, except maybe at times during the darkest hours in his battle with a malignant brain tumor.
It's been a year since the former Syracuse University punter, kick-holder and special teams captain learned that the tumor doctors removed Dec. 14, 2010, contained cancerous cells. It's been almost a year since he began radiation treatments and oral chemotherapy.
Meanwhile, the Downingtown, Pa., resident continues to show no further signs of cancer. There's no trace of the tumor doctors removed at Jefferson University hospital in Philadelphia.
Long finished his degree in marketing management at SU, traveled across the country twice, spent time with his girlfriend, completed an internship with Philadelphia-area chemical shipping company -- and he's still chasing his dream of becoming an NFL punter.
'I feel great,' said Long, who turned 23 on Dec. 13. 'I'm very thankful for the way I feel and what I'm able to do still -- working out and pursuing dreams of punting in the NFL. That's all special to me.'
Though his college career ended several games early, after his tumor was discovered Dec. 2, 2010, Long never wavered in his determination to kick at football's highest level.
A two-time All-Big East selection as a punter (first-team in 2009 and second-team last year), Long's career average of nearly 44 yards a kick made him a solid candidate to be signed by an NFL team for spring camp.
But the surgery -- followed by six weeks of radiation treatments that ended in early March and topped by an extended lockout of players that canceled nearly all offseason activities except the NFL Draft -- conspired to keep him on the sidelines this year.
'It hurt me tremendously,' Long said of the owners' lockout, which dragged into summer and didn't end until late July, just in time for the preseason.
Save for a pre-draft tryout with his hometown Philadelphia Eagles, and a pair of one-day looks by Cleveland and Tampa Bay during the preseason, Long said no other teams called.
'A lot of teams told my agent they were interested, but with what I was going through they needed more than a day to see me before they made a decision. A lot of them kind of shied away, just a wait-until-next-year kind of a deal,' he said.
So Long is waiting until next year. In early January he'll leave the Philadelphia suburbs and head south to Florida, where he'll spend the rest of that month and part of February kicking and training full-time in an effort to earn an invite to a team's mini-camp in March.
Long said the plan is for him to train in good weather while his agent tries to get teams to watch him work out and perhaps sign him. 'That way I'll be able to join a team for an offseason,' he said.
Until then, Long will spend the next few weeks with his family and girlfriend, Jacqueline Russer, who now lives and works in the Philadelphia area. He's training, and kicking, and enjoying a holiday season that wasn't so merry last year.
'Christmas will be fun,' he said. 'Last year I couldn't even really tell you what happened. Honestly, I don't even remember Christmas last year.'
Long also has become a poster boy for Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center, which made him the subject of ads that appeared this month in the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.
Long said the photo shoot for the ad was a different experience.
'They made me put on makeup. They gave me the whole rundown ... makeup, hair, everything,' he said.
But it was a small inconvenience compared to what he endured a year ago.
It's a battle Long appears to have emerged from both victorious and with a new resolve to chase a dream that cancer couldn't crush.
'I'm pretty determined,' said Long, adding that he's not prepared to quit -- even if the NFL turns him away again this year. 'It's going to take time for them to tell me no.'
Nolan Weidner can be reached at 470-3250 or nweidner@syracuse.com.
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PHOTO
Courtesy of Kimmel Cancer Center
FORMER SYRACUSE punter Rob Long has become a poster boy for the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, which made him the subject of ads that appeared this month in the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.
