Supporting His Academic Home Richard Long ’53

By Anne O’Connor ’78

When Richard Long arrived at Lawrence Academy for a post-grad year, the Boston English High School graduate found a world much different than his South Boston home. It was “like going to fairyland,” he recalls. In South Boston, he lived near the beaches at Kelly’s Landing and City Point, but in Groton, students had only a couple of places to go on a free afternoon: the drugstore for a soda or the apple place for some cider.

Even before Richard’s year at Lawrence, where he played football, hockey, and lacrosse, the town of Groton had made an impression on the Boston boy. His football coach at English was Bill Stewart, who attended LA and arranged for English High and Groton School to play football twice while Richard was on the varsity team. “We were bused up from English High. We’re on the grounds of Groton School. We’re in the gym, getting suited up. We could hear the Groton School fans singing their song. That really blew my mind,” Richard remembers. The 1953 English High School yearbook recorded the Boston team “tumbled the gentlemen from the private school by a score of 27-0.”

The LA faculty also played a parental role while Richard was at school. One day, he was supposed to attend a dance, a much-anticipated event for the all-boys’ school, but came down with appendicitis and missed it. When the headmaster called home, Richard’s father said to do whatever the headmaster would for his own child. Richard had his appendix removed at the hospital in Groton.

While at Holy Cross, Richard spent his summers at officer training in Quantico, Va., and after graduation was placed on active duty as a U.S. Marine Corps 2nd lieutenant at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He served in California and overseas, rising to the rank of captain. Richard then attended and graduated from the Boston University School of Law before returning to California. After waiting several months for the results of his bar exam, which the skillful student passed the first time, he began practice with a small firm in Bakersfield. The trial attorney later opened his own firm in that city, trying cases across California and other western states.

At LA, Richard found an academic home where the instructors were dedicated to the students. “Norman Grant, Fred Gray, Arthur Ferguson — they all took a mentoring position. Prior to coming to Lawrence Academy, I had no one looking over me for schoolwork,” Richard says. The study skills he learned at LA served him well when he attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. a Jesuit school known for its academic rigor, where he also played football. “What struck me when I was at my first year at Holy Cross, a lot of the entering freshmen flunked out. I knew I had to put in the time to study. It just became automatic,” Richard says.

At LA, Richard found an academic home where the instructors were dedicated to the students. “Norman Grant, Fred Gray, Arthur Ferguson — they all took a mentoring position,” he remembers.

LA remains close to Richard’s heart. He established the Richard M. Long, Esq. ’52 Scholarship Fund in memory of former Headmaster Fred Gray and faculty member and coach Norman Grant. The scholarship is to be awarded to a student in need from South Boston or, if none is found, to a student from San Diego, where Richard now lives, or one chosen by Lawrence Academy.

For more information about The Amos and William Lawrence Society: contact Beth Crutcher, director of advancement, at bcrutcher@lacademy.edu, or visit www.lacademy.planningyourlegacy.org.