Hoo-rizons: Hometown Hero on Feeding the Hungry, Loving Charlottesville and the NFL’s Future

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Chris Long had Easter dinner Sunday in Charlottesville with his wife, Megan, their two young children and his parents, Howie and Diane. “They’re pretty much the only people we see,” Long said, “and vice versa.”

Being healthy, around loved ones and having plenty of food made the former University of Virginia football star feel grateful – and even more determined to see his latest humanitarian effort through.

Grub4Good, a program which started Sunday and will run for at least four weeks, sources meals from locally owned restaurants and distributes them to community members who have food shortages due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Long and his wife, Megan, a former lacrosse standout at UVA, pledged $50,000 to the program. Their hope is that the sum will be matched by the Charlottesville community to provide more meals and support more restaurants.

“I’m just excited to help Charlottesville in any way I can, and my family is really excited as well,” Long said. “I’m just asking people to spread the word. And if it’s not Grub4Good, figure out some way to be intentional about doing something that will help Charlottesville.”

Grub4Good came on the heels of the Longs partnering with the City Schoolyard Garden project to provide 4,000 meals over spring break last week to Charlottesville youths.

Over the last several years, Long has donated his time and money to a wide array of causes, including his Waterboys initiative to bring clean water to East African communities, educational equity and helping the homeless.

UVA Today caught up with Long to hear more about his projects, what he’s been up to since retiring from the NFL and a host of other topics.

Q. Are you and your family doing OK?

A. Yeah, we’re at home. It’s one of those questions and it’s like, ‘What do you say?’ We’re great. We’re healthy. We have everything we need. But that’s not to say we’re not extremely stressed out about what’s going on. I think staying home seems hard on the surface most of the time, but is a really minimal sacrifice and we’re happy to do it to try and do our little part.

We’ve had to go to the grocery store once or twice and it seems like people are being smart around here – which doesn’t really surprise me – and I hope they keep it up.

Q. Having little ones like you do, what’s it been like in your household trying to adapt to homeschooling and some of these other challenges everyone is facing now?

A. Luckily, my wife, Meg, she’s awesome with it. It’s tough to occupy them and find things to do all day long, but the flip side of it is we get to spend all day with our kids. We look at it from a positive angle. They’re also at an age where the curriculum’s not crazy – where we would have to dive back into stuff we forgot from like 20 years ago. There’s no real curriculum. It’s just about keeping them active and having fun.

Q. Can you explain a little bit of what went into you wanting to partner your foundation with City Schoolyard Garden, and how it dovetails with your Grub4Good program?

A. It’s something that was on my mind immediately because, obviously, there are going to be people who are hungry, but then there are going to be a lot of people whose livelihoods are affected right now.

And it’s not just the restaurant owners. It’s tough for them, but there are also a lot of people they employ. People in Charlottesville who need food right now are the primary reason we’re doing this. But the added benefit of being able to stimulate some cash into some of these local businesses that have served the community, and, then in turn, keep some people getting paychecks and that sort of thing – it’s a nice little marriage and something that seemed really clear to us from the beginning.

Q. You’ve obviously spent a lot of time here in Charlottesville. What, in your opinion, makes Charlottesville and the UVA community such a special place?

A. For me, I’m very biased. It’s home. Wherever you grow up, you have an affinity for it. But I think Charlottesville is just a beautiful place. It’s a small-town vibe, but there’s enough going on that it’s a fun place to live. It’s lively, but it feels like a community.

And we can only claim to be a community if we’re actually helping each other out. I think, at a time like this, this is the bare minimum for us to do. That is, to lean on each other a bit. I think, as a society in general, we’re kind of getting tested – so each community is getting tested. And I’m proud of where I’m from. I know there’s been some tough things, some bad things, happen in Charlottesville the last few years that have put us in a bad light. That’s the reality, but I think it’s our responsibility in general to continue to show compassion for each other when we need help, and this is an unprecedented time of dependency.

Long started Waterboys in 2015. (Photo courtesy of Clay Cook Photography)

Q. How does what’s going on with pro sports right now – postponements and potential cancellations of seasons – affect your Waterboys initiative?

A. It does affect it, but it’s also one of those things where our priorities are very clear at this point. We’ve talked about ways we can help in East Africa because East Africa is going to get hit hard by this. But we also need to work, first and foremost, in our own communities right now because everybody’s struggling with this thing. It’s a novel virus.

I feel like we as Americans are used to our little safety net, our little bubble, which is not a great thing. But in this situation especially, I feel like we are getting a taste of feeling helpless – and I think that’s how a lot of people around the world feel in certain situations on a daily basis. This is an eye-opening experience.

[East Africa] is always a population that will need help, but right now, with our own neighbors struggling, a lot of them being donors and that sort of thing. … Charlottesville has gotten behind Waterboys. This is where live. If we don’t see a lot of cash into Waterboys the rest of the year, it’s tough, but everyone is struggling right now. How do you expect people to donate, how do you expect people to get behind a cause that’s not immediately right in front of them?

Q. UVA fans obviously know about your on-field accomplishments, but Megan was a very successful lacrosse player who played on some very successful teams for Julie Myers. Was that a pretty special time? Did you go to a lot of her games as an undergrad?

A. I went to a few. I never wanted to feel like I was the hovering boyfriend at all the games. We supported each other. Her having that athletic background is awesome because I’ve seen her be able to affect a lot of kids through lacrosse coaching in the last 10, 12 years (Megan Long is a lacrosse coach at St. Anne’s-Belfield in Charlottesville). We have a lot in common that way.

Right now, moms are amazing, because the kids are all of a sudden home and you’re just like, ‘Wow!’ Those kids have a lot of energy and are looking at Meg like, ‘Hey, what are we doing now?’ They don’t look at me trying to figure out what’s going on. It never ceases to amaze me watching her do the Mom thing, and then also ‘Coach.’ It’s pretty cool.

Q. You’re obviously the face of charitable endeavors, but does she play a big role behind the scenes?

A. Absolutely. Behind the scenes, she helps me shape ideas and brings ideas to the table and galvanizes people in our social circle to get going on causes. And also Nicole Woodie, who’s my foundation manager, does a terrific job. Those two do a great job together on stuff. And then my mom. My mom is actually the one, sitting down and talking to her like five or six years ago, I guess, helped me come up with the name “Waterboys.”

Q. As a former pro athlete, how strange is it that there are no pro sports taking place right now?

A. It’s strange. But of course, it’s way down the line on things that are important right now. I think, at first, when it happened, people were like, ‘This is inconvenient,’ because I don’t think they understood the scope of what was happening.

Right now, I think sports are great for society because they make people feel united, whether it’s a fanbase, something to watch on TV – it’s like a social bond. It’s a common interest that a lot of people can rally around. In times of tragedy, it can make people feel normal, but this isn’t the time for that to come to the rescue.

… Look at 9/11. 9/11 was awful. And the country was reeling and the morale was way down and I remember the football season continuing. That helped people try to move forward or, at least, put a Band-Aid on it for the rest of the year. But you just can’t do that right now. This is a totally unprecedented, totally unique situation that we’ve never dealt with.

Football season is probably in jeopardy, in my opinion. I think, when you look at it, even if we are able to contain this thing a little bit, what if in the fall you’re trying to play football and one guy gets COVID on a team? What’s the NFL going to do? You’ve got to quarantine people, and then I guess you could test all the players. But just think about that; it’s not whether it just seems safe. I think sports is in jeopardy for the rest of 2020, and if that’s the sacrifice we as a society have to make – I mean, come on. You know?

Q. In that vein, the NFL has taken some heat for not postponing or cancelling the upcoming draft. Where do you stand on that?

A. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I think it’s OK that the draft is going on. My opinion is that if football season puts anybody at risk, don’t do it. But the draft, if you’re able to execute it safely and it doesn’t compromise these social distancing guidelines that will keep us safe, then sports, as people say, is a refuge, when things are tough. It’s just a like a little taste of sports. It can be a distraction for a night or two. I don’t think the draft would be a bad thing.

Long, pictured here before a UVA basketball game, says he watched every Hoos football game last year. (Photo by Richard Dizon)

Q. Was it pretty cool to see what UVA football did last year?

A. Absolutely. It was a big step forward. Bronco [Mendenhall] has done a good job, incrementally, of growing this program, at what seems like a really responsible rate – and it looks sustainable. It really does. I think he’s looking for the right kind of [student-athlete], and that’s what you need here.

I saw they made a great hire with Clint Sintim, another former player, to pair with Marques Hagans. And I think Bronco is smart. He brought a lot of his own guys from out West, but is also hiring and seeking counsel from enough former players to keep the alumni base engaged, which is pretty awesome.

Q. Are you surprised, with how the NFL quarterback position has changed after the success of players like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, that Bryce Perkins isn’t getting more attention as a pro prospect?

A. I watched him all year, every weekend, so I can’t expect that everyone else felt the same way that I did. But the production is nearly unprecedented at our school. He’s going to go down as one of the best [UVA] players in history, in my opinion, for just what he was able to do this year. I know that there was an entire team out there, but he was the driving force, who we depended on every Saturday. As far as we were going to go was married to how far he could take us. To beat [Virginia] Tech, with that drought, coupled with that production and some of the memorable plays he had – he’s going to go down as one of the best in school history.

As far as the [NFL] evaluation and that sort of thing, I think he’s going to find a way to prove himself one way or another. It’s unfortunate he didn’t get a [NFL] Combine invite, because I think he would have really wowed people. But the tape is there.

It is really a unique year at quarterback with all the moving pieces in the NFL. You’ve got multiple Hall-of-Famers on the move; you have probably three or four guys going in the first round [of the draft] this year; and then just a huge exodus of dudes around the league. Cam Newton is still sitting out there – so it’s a tough year.

I just hope [Perkins] ends up somewhere where he has his chance to learn in the right type of stable situation. I think he should get drafted, but if he doesn’t, it can sometimes be better to be undrafted than a late-round pick. I know that’s not always something a player wants to hear, but quarterbacks that have a chance to pick their destination and the situation they start out in. It can be really good for them.

Q. Before the coronavirus came, how was retirement treating you? Did not playing last year feel strange? Did you miss it?

A. No, I’m great. I’m really good. I love retirement. It’s going on almost a year since I retired, and it’s probably been one of the best years of my life, if not the best. I have time with my family. I’m not under the gun, under pressure playing ball. My body feels good.

When you’re playing, you’re on adrenaline. If you include UVA, it’s 15 years just being on edge and being really highly committed to something – which has awesome tradeoffs, but is also really stressful. When that stops, there’s no way to imagine the release of stress. I’m just loving life.

Malcolm Brogdon is among several former UVA basketball players who Long has enlisted into his Waterboys initiative. (Photo courtesy of Clay Cook Photography)

Q. You’ve been a prolific podcaster. What is it that you like about doing them? And for those who may not be that familiar with your podcast, can you explain a little bit about the setup and subject matter?

A. I’ve got a podcast called Green Light. I like talking to people and having guests on – that’s my favorite part of it. Last week, I had five guests Zoom in. I get to talk to people like [former Florida State and NFL player] Myron Rolle, who’s in neurosurgery residence and volunteered to be on the COVID floor; NFL players like Todd Gurley, right before he signed with the Falcons; one of the producers of my show, who just finished battling COVID; draft experts. It’s really anybody who I want to have a conversation with.

I like the freedom of it. And I like the ability to be able to get a point across with nuance, because the studio stuff doesn’t really give me that opportunity. I have enjoyed doing some stuff like that – I did Amazon pregame in the fall. But I like the podcast stuff. I like being my own boss. I like talking about what I want to talk about.

Q. When you gave the valedictory address to UVA’s Class of 2018, you said that one of the things you learned at UVA was that failure is an opportunity and that anything worthwhile you’ve ever done, you were afraid. Along those lines, do you have any other tips for soon-to-be graduates who – with what’s going on now – will be entering a ‘real world’ that is so very different?

A. I would say that there’s no positive to any of this. Maybe you can be a part of the solution – and by “solution,” I mean the first generation after a global situation like this that is going to change the consciousness of everybody. I feel it’s going to change the way we think and the way we operate, and that could go a couple ways. We could improve the world coming out of this or we could get complacent.

I think it’s not going to be the easiest thing to join the workforce and start your adult life, but I think, also keeping it in perspective, that if you’re at UVA, you’ve been pretty lucky and everybody is dealing with the same issue you are. So be a part of the solution and don’t feel bad for yourselves. We’re going to figure this out, and I’m sure the Class of 2020 will be a big part of it.