Chuck Long, IA Sports Foundation

Posted by Rob Smith
 
The delightful Jamie Boersma gaveled the members to order on a beautiful spring day.  The head table had a great view overlooking the sparkling water of the swimming pool. Dale Vande Haar completed the invocation and welcomed guests.  In fact he did everything including the pledge and four way test.  He even organized the guests alphabetically by the host’s last name.  Way to go Dale!
 
Jamie thanked the members who worked in the cold and rain for the Drake Relays.  Hopefully, next year the weather will be more conducive to being outside. Randy Worth pushed the upcoming “Wheels Fellowship” event at the Harley Davidson store on the north side of Des Moines.
 
Kevin Kacere introduced the well-known Chuck Long.  Kevin, as an Iowa alum, was honored to introduce a distinguished Iowa alum who garnered many awards during his five years as a quarterback.  His stellar career continued on the coaching staff at several colleges and was part of the national champion Oklahoma Sooners. 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FROM A CYCLONE
 
  1. Chuck is a great speaker and passionate about life.
  2. Chuck has great stories and much respect for Hayden Fry.
  3. Chuck loves his job with the foundation and watching all types of athletes perform.
  4. Chuck tells a great joke.
  5. We are fortunate to have Chuck back in Iowa. HE’S ONE OF US!!!!
Chuck was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and his parents were devout alums of the University of Oklahoma.  Chuck then moved as a youngster to Wheaton, Illinois, where he played in the Illinois state championship football game.  However, his performance in the game was -3 yards passing.
 
Much to his surprise, Chuck received a call from the coaching staff of the University of Iowa to make a visit to Iowa.  The visit resulted in a full ride scholarship to be a Hawkeye.  From the very beginning Chuck was enamored with the University of Iowa and loved being a Hawkeye.
 
A great trivia question is “what collegiate player played in five Rose Bowl games?” The answer is Chuck Long.
 
From an outstanding college career, Chuck went on to quarterback for the Detroit Lions.  He reminisced about getting crushed as a quarterback against the dominating Chicago Bears in the days of “The Fridge”.
 
Chuck’s life story carried him to coaching opportunities at the University of Iowa, University of Oklahoma, San Diego State, and ended his college coaching career as a Kansas Jayhawk.  Chuck told a great story of losing only two home games in six years while coaching at Oklahoma.  As the coach calling the plays after the first home loss his wife told him not to look outside because of the many “Home for Sale” signs that showed up in Chuck’s front yard.
 
Currently Chuck is the CEO of the Iowa Sports Foundation which runs the Iowa Games, Senior Games, Adaptive Sports Competition, and Live Healthy Iowa.  He also works for the Iowa Sports Network.
 
JOKE 1
Cletus took Maynard to his first football game. They had great seats right behind their team’s Bench. After the game, Cletus asked Maynard how he liked the experience.
“Oh, I really liked it,” he replied, “but I just couldn’t understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents.”
Dumbfounded, Cletus asked, “What do you mean?”
“Well, they flipped a coin, one team got it and then for the rest of the game, all they kept screaming was: ‘Get the quarter back! Get the quarter back!’ I mean, come on… it’s only twenty-five cents!”
 
JOKE 2
“Why did the poor quarterback have his receivers cross at midfield?”
Because he was trying to make ends meet.