Mark Longwell 1983; 1984 (id)

Mark Longwell was born June 14th, 1960 in Hartford, Connecticut. His high school soccer honors included All-State selection in his last two years, when he was the team's leading scorer. Mark moved back to midfield at Fairfield University in Connecticut.

He was named All New England and the Tri-State Conference MVP in junior and senior years. He played with Slough Town FC in Slough, England in 1978, trained with Liverpool in the summer of 1980, trained with Chelsea summer of 1982. He played with the US Olympic team on their 1984 Malaysian tour.

Mark made the journey south to try out with 200 other open trialists for a spot on the Rowdies roster. He was signed to an amateur contract and he joined the club as a member of Rowdies II.

Made his professional debut on August 5th, 1983 against the Chicago Sting, in a 4-3 win. and played a total of five games for the first team. He probably would have played more if he wasn't a fullback competing for the starting postition with Rookie of the Year - Gregg Thompson.

Mark appeared in 2 indoor games during the 1983-84 season, that would be the last time in a Rowdies jersey.

He then played for the Ft. Lauderdale Sun, of the USL in 1984. He played semi-pro soccer in the local Portuguese leagues (heavy Portuguese influence in Eastern Massachusetts) from 1985-1991- then Mark hung up his boots for good- turning to running, triathlons and cycling.

Then a strange thing happened, he lost all interest in playing in 1991 and took up running, which led to marathons which led to short tris, which led to Ironmans, which led to 100 mile races (running), which led to ultra cycling, which led to RAAM, which led to where he is today:) A long strange trip for sure- but what a great ride. 56 marathons and ultras, 3 Ironmans, over 65,000 miles on the bike, two heavy crashes , countless stories from around the world (ran marathons in nine countries) he can't complain- been a fun athletic career overall- more than he ever imagined- and he ain't done yet- stay tuned for 2009. More can be found at his website: http://web.mac.com/marklongwell

Thanks to Mark for the photo. Can anyone help me with a photo of Mark in a Rowdies jersey? - If so, please email me.