Sad news this week to hear of the recent passing of former Kingston athlete Eddie Long. In the early 1960’s Long was a rock on the blueline for some very good teams with the Kingston Junior ‘B’ Frontenacs. Long moved up to join the Kingston Senior ‘A’ Aces where he became a popular teammate and dependable player for the 1967 Aces team that won the OHA Senior A championship and represented Canada at the Spengler Cup.

A natural defenseman, later in his career Aces coach Danny McLeod used him on the wing and he formed a checking line with Tom Carty and Jim Sprott. An electrician by trade, Long was a ‘handyman’ for the Aces, playing on the wing or on defense, often in the same game.

Long, Carty and Sprott could also create some offense, in a playoff game against Toronto in 1967 – Long had a 4 goal night against Gerry McNamara, the future GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I reached behind him to get the puck after my fourth goal, McNamara swatted me with his goalie stick and cut the back of my hand,” recalled Long in a 1970 Whig Standard feature story.

In his youth, Long had a difficult upbringing and was one of many young athletes helped out by Kingston Hall of Famer Wally Elmer. Long worked part-time at Elmer’s Patton’s Drycleaning store, and Elmer helped set Long up with sports equipment and registration fees to play hockey and baseball.

Long was also a well known left-handed pitcher & first baseman, competing on Kingston baseball teams for many years. Carty remembers being a teammate of Eddie’s when they were just kids in the 1950’s playing for the Cardinals in the Kiwanis Little League that Max Jackson started.

“Everyone loved Eddie as a teammate,” recalls Carty. No finer tribute to a great guy and a very good athlete.