Long family ready for milestone karate tournament

Belen

When the Capt. Tamara Long-Archuleta Memorial Open Karate Championships begins Saturday at Belen High School, it will mark a milestone for the Long family.

While it will be the 18th championship using the current name, it will also be the 40th overall tournament under the leadership of Richard and Cindy Long.

The couple has been synonymous with martial arts for so long in Belen, Valencia County and across New Mexico, it may be surprising to hear that the beginnings in the sport for Richard and Cindy were rather unexpected.

The long-time owners of Belen Goju Ryu Karate give credit — or blame — to their son, Michael, who was 3 years old at the time.

“He must have seen a (Teenage Mutant) Ninja Turtles movie,” Richard joked about Michael’s sudden interest in the sport back in 1985.

With that, Cindy began taking Michael to a local Taekwondo school, which didn’t allow parents to stay during lessons.

“I said, ‘I’m not leaving my 3-1/2-old son with somebody I don’t even know,’” Cindy recalled.

The instructor suggested Cindy join in.

“Within a month or so, the whole family was training,” Richard remembers, with both achieving black belt master-level instructor certification.

Eventually, the family shifted to another school in Belen. When the owner decided to move, he told the Longs, “If you want it, it’s yours.”

With the desire to keep training, and the nearest dojo in Albuquerque, the Long’s agreed.

“We thought, ‘Let’s see what happens if we run this thing,’” said Richard, who also worked for many years at an Albuquerque car dealership.

In 1988, the family took over Belen Goju Ryu Karate. After traveling around New Mexico to other tournaments, Cindy said, “We should have something in Belen. This would be a plus for the city.”

It would also “make it easy for our students to have that experience,” Richard said, without the expense of travel.

The first Hub City Open Championships followed in 1993. Soon after, the Long’s began a 12-year stint simultaneously running the United States Karate Association Alliance State Championships. Operating two tournaments annually for 10 years was challenging, so Richard and Cindy downsized to just the Hub City Open.

In 2003, their daughter Tamara, nicknamed Tammy, and five others died in a helicopter accident while on a U.S. Air Force rescue mission in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. The death of 24-year-old Tamara not only impacted the Long family but the tournament, the dojo, and people who may or may not have known her.

When donations came in from across the country in her honor, the Long’s decided to change the tournament name and start a memorial scholarship fund to keep Tamara’s memory alive.

“Education was everything to her,” Richard said, adding that Tamara earned her bachelor’s degree by age 20. “We thought it would be the best use of those funds to help kids get an education.”

As the 18th memorial tournament approaches, $52,500 in scholarship money has been awarded thus far to 75 Valencia County high school graduates.

The death of their daughter, Richard says, was transformative in how he teaches.

“I’ve gotten gentler, way more understanding, more empathy,” Richard shared. “You take the more aggressive kid and tone him down. You take the more shy kid and build up their confidence.”

Also seeing change is the business side. Richard says there are fewer people interested in karate, as many shifted to mixed martial arts as the popularity of cage fighting grew.

“We got very concerned about brain trauma — the only time you want to hurt another person is to defend yourself from being hurt,” Richard said.

Since the beginning, all of the Long’s tournaments have been held at Belen High School. Arrangements to use the facility were less complicated to start.

“We shook hands,” Richard says of those early agreements with school officials.

Custodians would get cash at the end of the tournament, others might get a tournament t-shirt and a burrito for their help.

“We did that for many years,” Richard said, until it got more involved. “You have to go to the school board, get a contract signed, and buy a million dollar insurance policy.”

They did balk at hiring security.

“We’ve got 40 black belts on the (gym) floor. We don’t need security,” Richard remembers telling school officials.

Despite the hurdles, “what a great place to hold an event like that,” Richard says of the BHS gymnasium. “We’ve been very fortunate to have a good relationship with Belen Public Schools.”

Cindy and Richard have been married 53 years and are now both 70-years-old. How much longer will they continue directing the show?

“I think we’ll do this until we are not physically able, as long as we’ve got the support from our school, our parents and families,” said Richard.

“We can’t do it without the families,” Cindy said, and local businesses and sponsors.

Richard looks back wistfully, recalling how Tamara planned to return to Belen Goju Ryu Karate when she retired from the Air Force.

“Man, it would have been really going,” he said. “She was so motivated about everything.”