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Profile: Dale Long

Dale Long "I’m convinced that I was placed here to serve." Hamilton Park United Methodist Church Dallas, TX, USA

Big Brother Dale Long makes a difference in the lives of young men.

"I believe that ... we were put here not just to take care of ourselves, but to give back to our community."

Dale Long's first "little brother" was 7-year-old Keith Farmer. Since that day in 1974, Dale has had five other "littles" and plans to keep on being a Big Brother for as long as possible.

Young men need role models to enable them to become successful and mature adults. "I think I have things to offer a young person who may be missing a dad or granddad around to give him guidance, to talk about the things that fathers talk about with sons," he says

Long took his first little brother to a Houston Astros baseball game in the Astrodome on their first outing together. All during that trip, Farmer kept asking, "Mr. Long, are you going to be my big brother forever?" By the end of the day, his answer was yes.

And now, 30 years later, Dale still hears from that "same little guy" who is a grown man living in Los Angeles. His sixth little brother is 15-year-old LaDaruss Douglas.

"Over the years, I've really enjoyed the relationships, watching young men grow up. Watching them evolve from being a little boy, in some cases, to a grown man and finishing high school and going to college and getting out in the world and starting their own families."

Long, a member of Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, has benefited from several mentors himself as well as parents who "were always there for me."

"When I first became aware of what Big Brothers Big Sisters was about, I thought it was a shame for a young person to grow up without having the benefit of doing some of the things that I did with my dad."

Turbulent history

Long grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the turbulent 50s and 60s. He was in the 16th Street Church when it was bombed and four little girls died.

"I had the awful experience of being a victim in the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Church in Birmingham," he says. "The four girls, Addie and Cynthia and Denise and Carole, were all my friends. We were all about the same age. And we were actually three or four rooms down from each other."

At the funeral of three of the four girls, Long says he actually got a chance to look into the eyes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"And there was just something about that moment, something about looking into each others' eyes that I'll never forget. I was inspired by his diligence, his reverence, his faith, his leadership ... he was perhaps the greatest man who ever walked this earth in my lifetime."

Lifetime of opportunities

In 1989, Long was named National Big Brother of the Year. Because of this honor, he was invited to the White House by former president George H. Bush to assist in announcing his "Thousand Points of Light" initiative. His little brother at the time, Michael, went with him.

Long continues to spend a lot of time traveling around the country telling people about the importance of being volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters. In the past year, 20 men from Hamilton Park United Methodist Church have become big brothers.

Long has been married for 30 years to Ellen. They have two daughters, Kendra, a student at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Amber, a student at Texas Southern University. Ellen recently became a big sister for the first time. "She's seen me do it over 30 years, and she's seen the value of it ... and she decided that she would do it herself."

The program has offered Long a lifetime of rewarding opportunities, he says. The young people "won't tell you how great and wonderful you are for being a volunteer. But the prize is, when you know that they've grown up and not become a statistic ... when they have a diploma in their hand instead of handcuffs."

The following people contributed to this Profile:
Audio story by Mike Hickcox; print story by Kathy Gilbert; videography by John Gordon.

UMC.org Profiles are produced by Pam Price, 615-742-5405.

Dale's Spiritual Gifts