WATERFORD GRAD NOLAN LONG, MOM JILL
Nolan Long, all 6-foot-10 of him, doesn't fit the typical candidate to attribute his athletic prowess to mom. And he's the first to admit that his dad, Jesse, has a co-starring role. It's just that Long, a 2012 Waterford High graduate and current pitcher in the Los Angeles Dodgers' organization, has vivid memories of his mom, Jill, "balling." "I grew up watching my mom play basketball in the Avery Point and Bridebrook (basketball leagues)," Long said. "As a little kid, you see your mom balling against grown men and it kind of drives you. It's all I know. What I grew up around. It's so cool to be able to say that." Long led the Lancers to their first state basketball championship in 2012, got drafted later that spring by the San Francisco Giants and attended Wagner to play both sports in the meantime. He belongs on any list of Waterford greats. Good thing he was a good listener. "Every mother is a fan of their child," Long said. "But my mom has pushed me in all the right ways. She knew I was more than an average athlete. It's been more than a mother-son relationship. She never told me I did great when I did (lousy). Maybe it's because she has a crazy work ethic herself." Long even learned parenting tips from his mom watching her with younger brother Weston, who is an aspiring actor. "She really doesn't know anything about acting,"
Long said. "But that never stopped her from delivering the same advice in the same ways. It's such an opposite thing between parenting me and Weston because our interests are different. But she taught us the same things."
— Mike DiMauro