NEW YORK –– Rob Long had experienced situations similar to this before. Every time he trotted out to greet the rest of his Syracuse punting unit — all 263 times over four endless years — the parallels to this scene of doctors and family surrounding him at a Philadelphia hospital were there. Malignant brain tumor be damned, Long is always the leader of a group of fighters.

Here Long was, the center of the team about to fight to remove itself from a bad situation. Everyone huddled around Long, waiting for the 22-year-old to speak about the grim situation of having the team’s back up against the wall. 

Only this time, it wasn’t football. There wasn’t any standing 14 yards back, waiting to catch, spin and drop the ball for the leg swing that would average 44 yards per punt while playing the hero for Syracuse those 263 times. There were no helmets, pads or snap counts. The roar of the Carrier Dome and blitzkrieg rush of the opponent were removed for a hospital’s tranquility.

The scene was foreign, yet the same. But the news was far worse than having to fire off a game-saving – perhaps bowl-bid-saving – line-drive punt for SU against the vaunted punt-rush of Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.

In the hospital, Long was the leader of a team of fighters — just like he was on the field. And when the doctors told him they’d discovered a malignant brain tumor, Long chose to speak to the situation in the same manner as he did in the SU huddle as a two-year captain.

‘I told them that because of my age, and I am in good health otherwise, I am able to attack this the best way as possible. Because I believe I can handle that,’ Long said in Manhattan’s Grand Hyatt Ballroom Tuesday. ‘And they give me the best chance to push through this and put that behind me.’

With that, the doctors learned about Rob Long, the person. The player. The competitor. And most importantly, the fighter. The leader. All year, from standing outside Manley Field House in early August before the season started, to playing the role of unsung hero in Rutgers while SU sewed up a bowl bid, to snapping photos of his teammates at the New York Stock Exchange podium Tuesday morning — the boyish smile has seemed to never stray from his face. Truth be told, it was somewhat of a misnomer. A facade for the ringleader of SU fighters.

He is the epitome of selfless leader, right out of the Doug Marrone mold, and it rubs off on his teammates. In Morgantown and Piscataway, he was there in the middle of the postgame celebration, rejoicing with his rowdy friends. Always with the same smile.

The same leader and fighter is someone Syracuse will miss Thursday when it faces Kansas State in the Pinstripe Bowl (3:20, ESPN). There will be no replacing what Long brought as that hero who helped save SU from the dire football situations. His replacement, Ryan Lichtenstein, is the backup kicker. He won’t come close to 44 yards per punt. He won’t be able to research, plan and improvise like the seasoned Long did against the Rutgers punt rush.

Couple that with the vaunted kick-returning ability of KSU’s William Powell, perhaps the nation’s most underrated running back in Daniel Thomas and the fact that SU’s offense sputtered into the Bronx, and Syracuse is the underdog.

But the leader will be there. This time on the Yankee Stadium sidelines. And that alone may be the inspiration enough for Syracuse to defeat the Wildcats. All week he has been with his team. Yes, he described the news of the cancer – which will require chemotherapy – as ‘absolutely devastating, something I wouldn’t wish upon anybody.’ But with his appearance at the Stock Exchange, his punting at the New York Jets practice facility and answering of every question thrown his way by the New York Media at the Grand Hyatt, Long gave the cancer a big, ‘So what?’

‘So what?’ It’s the phrase that epitomized his punting duties for four years: The situation may be bad, but not bad enough where Long can’t escape.

He is one who doesn’t lose. KSU head coach Bill Snyder quickly found that out Monday night when he went out of his way at a Yankee Stadium dinner to speak with Long. After Snyder told Long his own story of his daughter walking again after doctors told her she wouldn’t, the 70-year-old KSU coach said he could see it in Long.

‘He will win this battle,’ Snyder said. ‘I have no doubt about that.’

One look was all Long’s old roommate, senior running back Delone Carter, needed to see something was wrong. The two met face-to-face in early December. Long’s smile was gone. But the strength was still there. That’s all Carter needed to see.

‘His strength that he gives to himself and to others,’ Carter said at the Grand Hyatt. ‘We all feed off of that and it helps everybody.’

The strength will make Thursday, win or lose, one of the most special days for Syracuse. All because of the fighter with the smile.

Said Long: ‘Everyday is a special day now.’

Tony Olivero is the Development Editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at [email protected].

Published on December 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm