Bob Long always believed in being a part of and contributing to his community. In 2022, the community had the opportunity to give back to him.

He was raised in the Del Mar area, “I grew up in this neighborhood right here by Del Mar, I went to Lexington Elementary in South Park,” Long explained. After graduating from Carroll High School in 1988, he earned his Bachelor of Science from University of Texas at San Antonio and then a Master of Science in Biology, before family issues forced him to leave his doctoral program.

He then worked as a surgical technician and first assistant to an orthopedic surgeon after finishing the surgical technology program at Del Mar.

And for 26 years he has worked for Del Mar College as an anatomy and physiology professor, preparing students to enter medical fields. Anatomy and physiology is a prerequisite for multiple degree programs at Del Mar: nursing, radiology, respiratory therapy, emergency medical services, even kinesiology and dental hygiene. Chances are if a Del Mar student is going into a medical field, they’ve been advised, “Take Bob Long for anatomy!”

On July 7, 2022, Long had to apply his medical knowledge and experience to his own health. He had a burning sensation in his chest that wouldn’t go away. “First time I ever felt it,” he said. “Because I worked in medicine, I know that more people talk themselves out of an emergency room visit than they do talk themselves in. And I figured, I am going to call and just get checked.”

When asked what might have caused the heart attack, Long said, “My mother is from an area in the world that has arteries that are coated with Teflon. My dad is the exact opposite, everything sticks to the arteries.”

“I thought I pulled something in my chest from working out,” Long explained. He has a healthy lifestyle. “On July 5, two days before the heart attack, I ran eight miles on the bayfront. At the time I was running eight miles a day, three times a week. On July 6, I went to the gym that night and did a full workout.” Then on July 7, he gave a final for the summer semester, picked up his son from football practice and went home. “I ate lunch, sitting on the couch and I felt something hurt in my chest.”

Long called his wife asking her to take him to the hospital. “She called me back saying ‘I’m 17 minutes from the house.’” Long said he wasn’t going to wait. He called 911 and the dispatcher said there were medical emergency services already on the way. “I literally live four minutes from a fire department.” He heard his garage door open. “I thought it was my wife. I turned; it was an EMT-paramedic and I asked, ‘How did you get in my house.’ The paramedic replied ‘Mr. Long?’ He was a former student of mine named Sammy Mitchell.”

“I had actually just finished [Long’s] A&P II about a year before that happened,” said Capt. Sammy Mitchell of the Corpus Christi Fire Department. “Professor Long was very calm through the whole thing.”

“That’s probably because he has an understanding from a medical background.”

When Long arrived at the hospital, the woman who helped wheel him in was also a former student of his. “Several of the emergency room staff were former students of mine,” Long stated, “When I got sent to a room, the floor nurse, charge nurse, and two other nurses were former students of mine.”

Long kept running into his former students. “All the nurses except for one or two that came in my room were former students of mine,” he said. “I can’t go anywhere in a hospital without encountering a former student, and it feels good, you feel like you made a difference in their life, and now they are able to make a difference in the lives of others.”

“I like his teaching, the way he taught helped me understand more,” said Mitchell. “I love his way of teaching, it clicked for me, and he made A&P II easier for me.”

Long explained he’s never been interested in teaching at a larger university. “There are a lot of smart and talented kids in this community that do not have the opportunity to go to a university.”

“We are their first shot at that upper mobility, both financially or education wise,” he explained. “I have several former students that are MDs or PhDs now, they never imaged that they started here that they will end up there.”

“That’s why I want to be here, give back to the community that made me. I have no desire to go anywhere else.”