Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Sammy was a great guy. He stopped me several times and never gave me a ticket. Don’t know why. Everyone in McCamey loved him. We will all be sad forever.

Jimmie Brown
Friend

October 25, 2024

Even though I never met Trooper Sammy Charles Long, his story resonates deeply with me. His role as a community protector and symbol of law and order reminds me of the local hero in the small town where I grew up, Trooper Ray Munsell. In today's society, it seems that the respect for local heroes or individuals who made a genuine difference in our lives is missing.

Sammy Charles Long, a true legend of a Texas lawman, tragically lost his life. He was admired for his stern yet fair and compassionate approach to serving and protecting the community, something that is missing in today's society.

Rene R Ramirez Jr
Texas Department of Public Safety-Communications Supervisor-ICT

July 18, 2024

Sammy was in my Region Four DPS team out of Midland,Tx.

I was on duty in Midland when he went 10:33 traffic.

Trooper Vic Atwood was in Big Lake running hard to help him until the violator quickly stopped by the roadside park. Great shot by a great citizen!

DPS Trooper ll David Hancock retired
Tx DPS

November 22, 2021

Trooper Long
I remember this on news back in 76. Thank you for your work and service to Texas in law enforcement. To the deer hunter I am glad you took out the killer and I would rather see him dead, as he is, than LWOP till a old age death in prison soaking up hard earned citizens tax dollars for 40 or 50 plus years. I was in elementary school back then and my condolences to the long family for your loss.
Joe DeHoyos
Tx Dept of MHMR (Ret.)
Mental health facility

Joe DeHoyos
Tx Dept of MHMR

April 30, 2021

I was Living in Tucson Arizona when this happened. I can tell you what I was doing when this came over the radio station KCUB. The part That sticks out to me to this day, is the state of Texas giving the hunter a medal for shooting the suspect. This Trooper touched my life and I was only in 5th grade elementary school when this happened. To this day When I drive through Texas I think about this Trooper and Hunter.

Tony little

May 4, 2020

I knew and had the honor to meet and work with Trooper Long in Upton County, Rankin Tx. I was a rookie deputy sheriff hired by the late sheriff Langford. I worked at Upton county until July 1976 and then went to work for the late Sheriff Raul Florez in Reeves County, Pecos Tx. It was while working in Reeves County when we received notice of Trooper Long's death. It was a real shock and I could not believe it. Trooper Long was a fine Peace Officer well liked by most that I knew in McCamey and Rankin. I still remember the fine Trooper who gave me a lot of good advise on being a good Peace Officer. Rest in Peace Trooper, thank you for your service...

Retired Fred Lujan
Reeves County Sheriff Dept

July 7, 2019

He was born March 18, 1937...39 years old...and buried at Resthaven in Mcamey. RIP

Steve Elwonger
Dallas Police Department

November 22, 2018

RIP Trooper Long. May God bless the Deer Hunter. I’d like to meet him and shake his hand.

Deputy Constable Anonymous Anonymous
31 years of service

April 13, 2018

I was in high school, and with an explorer police organization in Athens TX. We visited the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco, I seen a gold plated .45 pistol and the story of the deer Hunter.
Jump ahead several years 1997 I graduated from TX DPS academy and assigned to Iraan TX . I met a Sgt we'll call him Skipper. He was Trooper Longs partner, and he was off that tragic day, Skipper had several stories.
We both attended the memorial dedication to Trooper Long in Rankin TX.
What an impact on my life reading the story, and an honor to attend a memorial and hearing his stories.
I am retired now and was truly honored to have been a part of Texas DPS, wearing Texas Tan and my Red Patch.
God Bless
Butch Fulton "Batman"

Butch Fulton Trooper
Tx DPS HP

January 11, 2018

I lived in Rankin Texas when this tragedy happened. I was 11 and later heard that the state of Texas awarded the hunter two gold plated 45 pistols. His name was kept a secret for obvious reasons. I also heard he and his son were witness to Trooper Long's murder that day. Rest in Peace Trooper Long !

JD TURPIN

April 1, 2017

I was in 7th grade in McCamey when Mr. Long was killed. It was so hard for me to understand at the time and still is to this day. I am so grateful to him and all others who serve to protect us.

Lori Steward Warren

June 9, 2016

I learned to respect officers of law enforcement from Sammy Long as a teenager in McCamey. Sammy was a fair man that gave many of us teenagers in the 60's sound advice-counsel. He was always at our home football games standing by the fence near the concession stand. I've enjoyed visiting with his widowed wife Martha Long at MHS school reunions over the years. As a former teacher she also had a positive-lasting influence on many lady Badgers. RIP. Trooper. Long, Sammy C. TDPS 1976.

Michael Holguin
friend

October 6, 2015

I worked as a TABC officer in Odessa and the surrounding area. I knew Sammy and always admired his dedication to duty and fairness to all he met. I was saddened to learn of his demise as I had left the area earlier to another assignment. He was a fine man and I think of him often.

Larry D. Barton
Inspector, TABC

December 15, 2013

I was a DPS Trooper in Midland, Texas when Sammy Long got on the radio and went "10-33" traffic in pursuit of a black pickup truck Eastbound on US 67 toward Rankin and Big Lake. Vick Atwood was on the radio with the dispatcher telling Sammy he was on the way, keep him coming. The radio equipment was not great back then, but we knew listening to the dispatcher what was happening. Several minutes later it was relayed to all of us that Sammy had been killed and the maggot that did it was dead.

I didn't work with Sammy daily but interacted with him at meetings and special assignments. On one occasion I helped him end a high speed chase from McCamey to Odessa on Hwy 385.

Sammy never met a stranger, always had a great smile and HUGE handshake. I stop at the granite marker 6 miles East on Rankin each year when I go hunting in Crane county.

David Hancock, former DPS Trooper

July 29, 2013

Just spent the last hour talking to an old timer who grew up with Ofc. Long (Sammy, as he referred to him). I got to hear about how great a guy Sammy was and the story of how he was taken from this world to early. May God bless his memory and the citizen who took out his killer.

Senior Police Officer, Butler G.
Austin Police Department

June 8, 2013

11-30-12:
While on patrol i made a traffic stop and i contacted the driver, a elderly man. I told him why i had stopped him and asked for his license. He began to tell me how much respect he has for law enforcement and how dangerous are job is. As he was retrieving his license, i noticed a small laminated card that was stuck to his license. He handed me the card and stated, " you might be interested in this card" i took the card, and i read how it was an commendation from the Texas Dps for valiant attempt to save patrolman Sammy Long's life in 1976. He than asked if i wanted to hear the real story, and i said yes. He told me the story, very emotional during most of it, and at the end he stated,"it was a bad day, but i did what i had to do"

Sgt. Bordeaux
Shawnee Police Dept.

Sergeant D. Bordeaux
Shawnee Police Dept.

November 30, 2012

My father, Trooper Vick D. Atwood, was stationed in Big Lake, TX and worked with Sammy for many, many years. Dad was first on the scene when Sammy was killed. In high school, I do not remember many, many Friday Night Lights when I didn't see Dad and Sammy following the chains on west Texas football fields. At that time there were few decent restaurants from the city limites of San Angelo to Ft. Stockton for law enforcement to eat, so our home in Big Lake was always open for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We all enjoyed Sammy's wild sense of humor at the kitchen table. As I look back, I have such fond memories of him, his wife and son. The good times are missed.

Robbie Atwood-White
Daughter of Vick D. Atwood

August 2, 2012

Sammy was my frist partner when I went to work (1968). I spent over a year in the same partol car. I new him better then most. He once wrote me a HP-15, thats a ticket, for farting in the patrol car and sent it in to the sgt. He had a great sence of humer and I spent the best year of my life riding next to him. I have many time though of what would have happen , had I been with him that day. I can tell you this for sure, sammy was a devoted family man.

Ed Holland (Chief of Police) Ret.
Texas Highway Patroloman

July 10, 2012

The man who commented above, Rick Easterwood, is my father. I have heard coutnless stories about Trooper Long from him. My Dad is a hero to me, and to read about him calling someone else a hero is amazing to me in the trusest sense. I come from a long background of DPS; my Dad with 30 years, his brother (my uncle) 30 years...also retired, and I still live the DPS life today, as my husband is a DPS Trooper.

I pray for every police officer's safety on a daily basis. I have actually been to the Austin, TX DPS Academy and seen the photo of Trooper Long. It is a somber story, but one of heroism. God bless Trooper Long, his family, and all law enforcement officers serving today.

Autumn Easterwood Anderson

May 28, 2012

I found this web site today, quite by accident. My name is Rick Easterwood, my career with Texas DPS began in 1974 and Trooper SAMMY LONG was my first partner. We worked together for 2 years and he taught me so many things. He was a great man and truly one of my heros. I had transferred out of Upton county when Sammy was murdered. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with the deer hunter that shot and killed Sammy's attacker...

I went on to retire from the DPS after serving 30 years with that agency. I currently am still in law enforcement with a much smaller agency but not one day goes by that i don't use something in my job that i learned from Sammy Long. He was a great man and one day, I hope to be able to stand in his presence again.

Constable Rick Easterwood
Lamar County, Tx. Pct. 4 (former partner)

May 27, 2012

I'm an Oklahoma State Trooper and never heard your story. The other day I stopped an old man for a minor traffic violation. He proceeded to tell me this fasinating story and presented me a document recogninzing him for his attempt to save your life. He was the deer hunter who shot and killed your attacker. His recolection of the events after all these years and his ability to share them was inspiring. I just wanted to say the old man still lives with and thinks of you daily.

Trooper Dwight L Durant X189

February 18, 2012

I was born in McCamey Texas back in 1946 as my dad worked in the oil industry at that time. I recall some of my mothers tales of living in McCamey and since we moved over to Midland a few years later, before I started school, I do not have any recollections of actually living there. However many years later in early March 1976 I was coming home to Houston Tx and I planned my return to come through McCamey as I wanted to go by the Hospital to see where I was born. I happened to stop at a highway intersection and Officer Long was also stopped and I asked him directions to the hospital. He asked me if I had an emergency and I told him that was not the case, but I only wanted to go by to see the place I was born. I remember him to be very courteous and very helpful and probably thought me to be strange just wanting to see the hospital. Anyway, after I returned home, I told my mother about going through McCamey and I told her Officer Long's name. Well sadly enough the following November she was reading the news and came across the story about Officer Long's tragic death and I have always remembered him and the chance meeting I had that day. I have always respected our DPS Troopers and have had a few traffic stops by them over the years and have always found them all to be very polite and courteous. This was always appreciated as they usually just issued a warning and asked me to slow down and be safe.

Years later after I retired, my wife and I moved to Huntsville, Tx. and she was very fortunate to have the opportunity to go to work for the local Texas Ranger Lieutenant here as an adm. assistant and we have been able to become friends with all the Rangers in Company A and other companies. Yesterday while attending a pre-Christmas Party with some of the Co. A Rangers, her boss gave me a book "Working on the Border, A Texas Ranger's Tale", with all the signatures of the current active Rangers in Texas. Well nedless to say, the author, a retired Ranger, Doyle Holdridge, also grew up in Rankin Tx. and had some very fond recollections of Sammy Long, since he was the DPS Trooper in that part of Texas. It seems that Officer Long was the type of man that took care of business, but went a long way to keep young boys growing up in Rankin and McCamey on the straight and narrow. I always ask the Rangers I have met in the past several years if they knew Sammy Long back then and every one of them either knew him or knew who he was. I think that says volumes about the DPS Trooper that I was only able to meet for just a very brief moment in the last year of his life.

So as we approach this Christmas Season of 2011, I feel very honored to have met you Officer Long, may you rest in peace and I know all of us still here on earth will look forward to meeting you again in heaven and I think you will probably be the Trooper that will once again give me some good and wholesome instruction how to find my way to heaven since you showed me where I started out. I look forward to seeing you again.

God bless and Merry Christmas.

Ray Baker

Mr. Ray Baker

December 22, 2011

Your heroism and service is honored today, the 35th anniversary of your death. Your memory lives and you continue to inspire. Thank you for your service. My cherished son Larry Lasater was a fellow police officer murdered in the line of duty on April 24, 2005 while serving as a Pittsburg, CA police officer.

I am grateful that the citizen who shot your killer was there and rendered justice while protecting others who may have come into contact with that murdrous thug. I hope he was properly rexcognized..he also saved your family from having to experience the ordeal of a trial.

I pray for solace for all those who love and miss you for I know both the pain and pride are forever.

Rest In Peace

Phyllis Loya
mother of fallen officer Larry Lasater, PPD, eow 4/24/05

November 21, 2011

Sammy Long was such a big part of my growing up years in McCamey, and I absolutely adored him. Martha Long was one of my favorite teachers, and my class' sponsor for several years. I'll NEVER forget the day I got the phone call telling me of Sammy's death and the circumstances. Broke my heart!!! And, Traci, you were blessed with wonderful parents, and lost your dad way too soon!!!

Louann Kelton
Former McCamey resident

November 21, 2011

As Thanksgiving approaches I want to say Thank You for you service to all the citizens that you protected. I was just a teenage when I knew you. My Blessings to you and your wonderful wife, she was my teacher in High school. Rest in Peace Officer Long, I know your watching over us even now.

Thanks also to the deer hunter that took such fast action and removed the Scum that took Officer Long's life.

VJG
Former citizen of McCamey

November 21, 2011