Creston’s Randy Long to join Iowa Basketball Hall of Fame

One of the most prolific scorers in Iowa high school basketball in the mid-1960s from Creston will be honored next March by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

Randy Long, 1965 Creston High School graduate, is among the former Iowa high school players to be inducted into the IHSAA Basketball Hall of Fame during championship night at the Boys State Basketball Tournament on Friday, March 9.

Long is just the second IHSAA Basketball Hall of Fame player from Creston, joining 1939 graduate Bill Stauss who was inducted in 1983.

Long averaged 29 points and 14 rebounds per game over his junior and senior seasons for the Panthers. He graduated with career school records in points (1,258) and rebounds (608). He has since been passed in scoring by 1997 graduate Kyle McCann (1,857). Dale Gordon is the school’s all-time rebounder with 868.

Long led the Hawkeye Eight Conference in scoring as both a junior and senior. He was chosen to the Des Moines Register and Iowa Daily Press Association all-state teams both seasons at a time when both groups named six teams of five players, irrespective of class.

Long was an all-around athlete who held school records in football passing yards and field goals, and track records in high jump and high hurdles. He was also all-state in baseball and football. The son of the late William and Dorothy Long was also all-Southwest Iowa in baseball as a pitcher and shortstop.

Long was an effective driver as well as a pure shooter. He scored 50 points in an 80-44 victory over Glenwood in 1965 and had 49 and 46 points in two other games.

Long’s coaches in Creston were Bill Baldwin in basketball, Rollin Dyer in football and Ron “Fox” Clinton in baseball.

Long, a retired coach and athletic director now living in Savannah, Missouri, started his college basketball and baseball career at Kansas State University.

He returned to Creston to play one year of basketball and baseball at Southwestern Community College for coach Clinton, enrolling in the second semester to play for the Spartans basketball team.

“We were tied for 16th in the region and coach Clinton flipped a coin and we won that to get in the tournament,” Long recalled. “We were the 16 seed playing the number one seed (Grand View) at their place, and we knocked them off. They were ranked in the top three of the nation at the time. Then we lost in the second round.”

McCann’s father, Creston business owner Steve McCann, was a teammate of Long’s on that Southwestern team.

“He was a lot like Kyle,” Steve McCann said. “He could score in a lot of ways and he got to the free throw line a lot. He was a pure shooter and a strong competitor. I think he averaged over 40 points a game for us, and that was before the 3-point shot.”

Long then transferred to pay two seasons of varsity basketball at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

Long was a teacher and coach and began his career near Birmingham at McAdory High School, which later had a nationally-renowned athlete, Bo Jackson.

Long also coached in Iowa at Harmony of Farmington and Bridgewater before beginning a career in Missouri that included stops at Nodaway-Holt, Savannah and West Nodaway. He also served as athletic director at Savannah and West Nodaway.

Long’s boys basketball coaching record is 153-48 and his girls teams went 80-15. He also coached a 16-and-under AAU basketball team in Alabama that won the state championship in 1972.

He said notification from the IHSAA about the upcoming Hall of Fame induction was a pleasant surprise.

“I’m honored,” Long said. “I appreciate everything people did to get me nominated. I’m looking forward to it.”

Long, 70, is retired and living in Savannah with wife Diane. He still works part-time as a substitute teacher in the area.

Other family members include son Jeremy in Diagonal, daughter Heather Ecker in Rosendale, Missouri, son Jason in Savannah, Missouri, and daughter Amy in Burlington.

Other players to be honored by the IHSAA in March are Dick Breitbach Jr. of Cedar Rapids Regis (1983 graduate), Jonathan Bomgaars of Boyden-Hull (1995), Ryan Sears of Ankeny (1997), Aaron Jennings of Benton Community (1999) and Pierce Hibma of Pella (2003).

Coaches to be inducted in the 2018 class are Kreg Klaver of Roland-Story, Brad Randall of Solon and Kevin Enwright of Northeast, Goose Lake.