Roy LongMaster of Arts

Roy J. Long is a retired teacher and former Nebraska football player. In addition to playing halfback and quarterback for the Huskers in the 1940s, the Blair native was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and ROTC. During World War II, he served with the 71st Infantry Division in Europe. He was part of the liberation of the Gunskirchen Lager concentration camp in Wels, Austria, in May 1945. Later that year, he was a guard for the American judges during the Nuremberg war trials.

Roy returned to Nebraska to finish his schooling and football career, earning a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education in 1947. He earned a Master of Arts from Nebraska in 1953 and completed 36 additional credit hours. After teaching in Fredonia, Kansas, and serving in the Korean War, he moved to Omaha, where he taught industrial arts at Omaha South High School from 1953 to 1974 and worked with special needs students from 1974 until his retirement in 1984.  Roy was awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from UNL at the August 2017 Commencement ceremonies.