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Franklin's Long enshrined in state baseball hall

Former Wildcats coach directed baseball  team for 28 years.

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6:08 AM Thursday, January 26, 2012

By Rick Cassano

Staff Writer

LANIER TWP. — Doug Long wasn’t planning to get emotional.

The former Franklin High School coach was at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus last Friday afternoon, waiting for his turn to speak about his induction into the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

He was listening. Sort of. Then his son Jake got up to present him.

“There’s no crying in baseball,” Long said. “I’m trying to keep my composure and listening to all the nice things the coaches are saying. I’m kind of just daydreaming, not wanting to hear too much. But Jake’s three-minute speech got to me. I was just trying to not get too choked up. It was tough. A hard thing to do.”

The 62-year-old Long got through it, though, becoming one of only 131 members in the OHSBCA Hall of Fame.

“It’s a very prestigious honor,” Long said Tuesday afternoon at his Preble County home. “I’m humbled by it. At least 30 of my former players were there, and I didn’t know they were coming. That tells me I must have chosen the right profession.”

He’ll be honored again Friday at Franklin’s home boys basketball game against Valley View. There’s a 5 p.m. reception in the cafeteria, where alumni will speak about Long. There will also be a recognition ceremony at halftime.

The public and all former players are invited to attend the reception.

“I’m ready to be roasted — I’d rather laugh than cry any day,” Long said. “I’m kind of like Satchel Paige. If you look back, someone’s always gaining on you. I’m sure I’ll be looking back a lot Friday night.”

He coached baseball at Franklin for 30 years, two as an assistant and the last 28 as the head coach.

Long posted a 504-256 record from 1974 to 2001, ending his prep career with a 3-2, nine-inning loss to Badin in a Division II sectional game at Alumni Field in Hamilton.

His teams won nine Mid-Miami League championships. They captured three district crowns. They were regional runners-up one time.

Long, a longtime shop teacher at Franklin before retiring in 2001, was never obsessed with numbers. He still isn’t.

“We never cared about stats,” said Long, a 1967 Germantown High School graduate. “We always set a goal of winning 20 games every year. That’s it. If you do things right, you’ll win. And if you play hard and teach it right, you’re going to turn out good players and good kids. We played the game right.

“What an honor to have the opportunity to make some kind of impact on people,” he continued. “A lot of people have jobs and hate them. I loved teaching. I loved coaching. If you look at it that way, I really don’t know if I’ve ever worked a day in my life.”

Long, an assistant coach at Wright State University for two seasons (2003-04), doesn’t look at his Wildcats’ inability to earn a state berth as a failure of any kind.

They came close in 1998, beating Columbus DeSales 6-2 in 10 innings in the regional semifinals before losing to eventual state champion McNicholas 10-2 at Hardman Field in Piqua.

“The only thing I was ever disappointed with in the spring was the weather, and I have no control over that,” Long said. “Everything else about baseball is great. Whether you’re sitting on a bucket spitting sunflower seeds or doing something else as a coach, you get to watch kids improve. You get to see them grow up.

“I don’t know what I could ever complain about,” he added. “I wouldn’t change anything.”

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