Diane Addonizio graduated from Villanova in 1982. That same summer, she married her college boyfriend. Then she went back to school. She earned a law degree from USC while her husband became a star with the Los Angeles Raiders. In 1987, she passed the California bar. After that, she practiced law for several years.
Then she made the decision that shaped one of the NFL’s most admired families. She stepped away from the courtroom and raised three boys. In time, all three boys grew up to work in professional football. Two became NFL linemen. One of them won two Super Bowls. Meanwhile, she wrote a book about athletes as fathers. She also joined the NFL’s own advisory committee on youth football safety.
Her husband, Hall of Famer Howie Long, has been on television every Sunday since 1994. In contrast, she has stayed almost entirely out of the camera’s way for 44 years. Still, the record behind that privacy is remarkable. This is the story of Diane Addonizio.
Quick Bio
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Diane Addonizio (Diane Long) |
| Born | c. 1960, Red Bank, New Jersey (exact date not publicly confirmed) |
| Education | Villanova University, Classical Studies (1982); USC Gould School of Law, JD (1986) |
| Occupation | Attorney (admitted to the California Bar, 1987); author; NFL safety advisor |
| Spouse | Howie Long (married June 27, 1982 – present) |
| Children | Chris Long, Kyle Long, Howie Long Jr. |
| Grandchildren | Two grandsons, Waylon and Luke (through Chris) |
| Residence | Albemarle County, near Charlottesville, Virginia |
| Net Worth | Has not been publicly reported |
Who Is Diane Addonizio?
That ordering says a lot. Her résumé stands among the strongest of any spouse in football. On it sit a law degree and a published book. A seat on a league safety committee followed later. In addition, charity boards have held her name for decades. Yet most fans still cannot picture her face. Both halves of that story matter.
Where Did Diane Addonizio Grow Up?
Addonizio was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. She grew up nearby in Monmouth County. Her family was close-knit and Roman Catholic. As a result, her childhood ran on school, church, and discipline. Education mattered a great deal in that house. Later, the same priorities showed up in her own home.
Her exact birth date, however, is not public. Profile sites give conflicting years for her birth. The age section below weighs the best evidence. That evidence comes from her own university’s records.
How Did Diane Addonizio Meet Howie Long?
She met him at Villanova University. At the time, she was a freshman. He was a sophomore and a defensive lineman from Charlestown, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, she studied Classical Studies and focused on her classes.
Their first date had no restaurant. There were no flowers either. Instead, Long invited her to his dorm room. Together, they watched an NFL game on a small 12-inch television. He had gotten that TV from his grandmother. So the romance started over football on a tiny screen. Since then, it has outlasted his playing career. It has also outlasted both sons’ playing careers, and it still runs beside his broadcasting career.
What Did Diane Addonizio Say About Young Howie Long?
She rarely speaks in public. So her one recorded description of him matters a great deal. Sports Illustrated interviewed her in 1985. By then, she was a young wife looking back at her college boyfriend. She said: “Attractive, the boy was attractive. I’d never met anyone that big who was that good-looking. He was always like a volcano about to erupt, always driven. Everywhere we went, he thought people were staring at him.”
She also admitted something honest. It took her time to understand this “strange, moody young giant.” In the end, 44 years of marriage suggest she finished the job.
Did Diane Addonizio Give Up a Law Career?
She built the career first. First, she graduated from Villanova in 1982 with a degree in Classical Studies. She married that same summer. Then she earned her JD from USC’s Gould School of Law in 1986. After that, she joined the California Bar in 1987. She then practiced law in Los Angeles for several years.
During those years, Long played for the Raiders. Their first two sons also arrived in that period. Only then did she step away to raise the family full time. So the popular summary undersells her story. She did not simply give up a career. She finished the degree, passed the bar, and worked the job. Then she chose the household with open eyes. Today, she remains a non-practicing lawyer.
When Did Diane Addonizio Marry Howie Long?
The couple married on June 27, 1982. That was only weeks after her Villanova graduation. Before the wedding, Long bought a ring when he finished college. He proposed, and she said yes. At the time, he was entering his second season with the Raiders.
Then, in January 1984, Los Angeles won Super Bowl XVIII. Suddenly, the young family was off and running. Consider what one marriage has covered since then. First came a 13-season Hall of Fame playing career. Next came a television career that began in 1994 and still continues. In between, three sons grew up and built NFL careers of their own. Very few people in football have been present for that much of it.
Who Are Diane Addonizio’s Three Sons?
All three sons built football lives of their own. First, though, their home ran on education and discipline. For years, the family car’s license plate reportedly read “3 BOY ZOO.”
Christopher Howard Long was born on March 28, 1985, in Santa Monica. He became a defensive end like his father. The St. Louis Rams drafted him second overall in 2008. Later, he won Super Bowl LI with New England. He then won Super Bowl LII with Philadelphia. In 2017, he donated his entire season’s salary to charity. Once, during a 2013 Rams game against Chicago, cameras caught him pulling his younger brother out of a scrum. He may well have saved Kyle from an ejection that day.
Kyle Howard Long was born on December 5, 1988. He played offensive guard for Chicago and Kansas City. He also earned three Pro Bowl selections. Howie Long Jr. was born in 1990. Instead of playing, he chose the front office. Today, he works in player personnel for the Las Vegas Raiders, the family’s original franchise.
Did Diane Addonizio Write a Book?
Yes, she wrote one. In 2000, Addonizio published “He’s Just My Dad!: Portraits of Celebrity Athletes and Their Children.” That was also the year her husband entered the Hall of Fame. The book showed famous athletes in their most important role, being dads.
The project fits its author well. For fifteen years, she had watched fame collide with fatherhood inside an NFL home. Yet she never sold her own family’s story. Instead, she documented other players in the role she valued most. Villanova’s official biography lists the book among her credentials. So the vague author claims on profile sites are, for once, accurate.
Why Do Football Mothers Listen to Diane Addonizio?
She lived the fear that other football mothers live. Addonizio served on the NFL Heads Up Football Advisory Committee. The program promoted safer tackling, proper equipment fitting, and concussion awareness. After that, she became a frequent speaker and panel participant at NFL and team events.
Her best-known appearance came in 2014. The Chicago Bears hosted a safety clinic at the Walter Payton Center. More than 200 football mothers attended the event. She spoke there beside her son Kyle. Her topics covered tackling technique, heat, hydration, and equipment. Her authority came from experience, not theory. She had watched a husband take hits for 13 seasons. By then, she was watching her sons take them too. She has admitted she worried at every snap. In time, football circles gave her a nickname, the First Lady of Football. She earned it in rooms like that one.
What Has Diane Addonizio Given Away?
Her giving is quiet, but it is well documented. In 2015, Diane and Howie Long made a $1 million commitment to Villanova University. The endowed fund created the Howie and Diane Long Football Scholarship. It supports a football student from an inner-city school in the Boston area. That detail nods to his Charlottesville roots and their shared start at Villanova.
Closer to home, she served for years on the board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Virginia. She was also Honorary Chair of the campaign that built a new club facility in Charlottesville. In addition, she co-chaired the organization’s Milbank Society. Chris Long described that upbringing to Albemarle Magazine in 2025. He said: “My parents gave me a blueprint for how to treat people with respect and dignity. My mom spent so much time working with the Boys & Girls Club, not just organizing but being there with the kids, making sure they felt seen and valued.” He has also called her the real MVP of the household. Clearly, the sons’ generosity did not appear from nowhere.
What Has Howie Long Said About His Wife?
Long has credited Addonizio’s support throughout his public life. He did so around his Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2000. Since then, he has described her role in the same way. In his telling, one thing stayed constant under the playing career, the injuries, and the television reinvention. That constant was home.
Her own appearances stay rare and deliberate. For example, she attended a Friars Club roast of Terry Bradshaw at his side, and Getty Images photographed the couple there. Otherwise, she chooses philanthropic work and family events. She gives almost no interviews. She also keeps no public social media. After 44 years, the arrangement still holds. He talks for a living. She decides what the family shares, and usually the answer is very little.
What Is Confirmed About Diane Addonizio, and What Isn’t?
Villanova University’s own records confirm the core story, and other strong sources agree with it. Confirmed items include her Red Bank roots and her 1982 classical studies degree. They also include the freshman-year meeting and the wedding on June 27, 1982. Her USC law degree in 1986 is confirmed too. So is her California Bar admission in 1987.
The same applies to her years of legal practice and her book from 2000. Sources also confirm her Heads Up Football committee seat and her panel at the Walter Payton Center in 2014. The $1 million Villanova gift and its scholarship are confirmed as well. Her Boys & Girls Clubs leadership roles are confirmed. Finally, the three sons and their careers are public record, and no credible report has ever shown a divorce or separation in 44 years.
Other claims, however, remain unconfirmed. First, her exact birth date is unsettled, as the sections below explain. Second, claims about her businesses and investments name no company and cite no records. Finally, no credible source supports the $1 million personal net worth that profile sites copy from one another.
Where Does Diane Addonizio Live Now?
The Longs live in Albemarle County, Virginia, outside Charlottesville. The family chose that base decades ago. They also spend time at a home in Redondo Beach, California, which dates back to the Raiders years. Through Chris and his wife Megan, she is now a grandmother to two boys, Waylon and Luke.
She also remains married to Howie Long. Their marriage has reached 44 years and counting. In a league where marriages often end with a contract, theirs has outlasted his playing career. It has also outlasted both sons’ playing careers.
How Old Is Diane Addonizio?
Her birth date is not documented by any authority. So every exact age published online deserves suspicion. Profile sites give either 1960 or March 16, 1962. However, her education timeline offers stronger evidence. Villanova lists her in the graduating class of 1982. That fits a birth year around 1960, and it points to an age of about 66 in 2026.
By contrast, the 1962 date would make her a 20-year-old graduate. That is possible, but it is less likely. The honest answer is the mid-sixties.
What Is Diane Addonizio’s Net Worth?
Her personal net worth has not been publicly reported. Profile sites repeat a figure of about $1 million. However, that number is unsourced, and it simply copies itself from page to page. The documented money is joint, and it is verifiable. For example, the couple gave $1 million to Villanova in 2015 alone. Their wealth rests on a Hall of Fame playing career and three decades of top-level broadcasting. Her own legal career also contributed in the early years.
Conclusion
Her record runs long. A California bar admission came first. A book about athlete fathers followed in 2000. The safety committee and the endowed scholarship came after that. Above all, she raised the family that Chris Long calls his blueprint. The gold jacket carries her husband’s name. Still, the record makes one thing clear. Her work holds the whole structure up.
FAQs
Who is Diane Addonizio?
Diane Addonizio is the wife of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long. Villanova gave her a classical studies degree. USC Gould School of Law then trained her as a lawyer, and the California Bar admitted her in 1987. Readers also know her as an author and a youth football safety advocate. Her sons are Chris Long, Kyle Long, and Howie Long Jr.
How long have Diane Addonizio and Howie Long been married?
They married on June 27, 1982, so the marriage has passed 44 years. They met at Villanova when she was a freshman and he was a sophomore. No credible report of a separation or divorce has ever surfaced.
Did Diane Addonizio really give up a law career?
She completed the career steps first, all of them. Her JD came from USC Gould School of Law in 1986. The California Bar admitted her in 1987. Los Angeles then gave her several years of legal practice. Only afterward did she step away to raise the couple’s three sons.
Did Diane Addonizio write a book?
Yes. She published “He’s Just My Dad!: Portraits of Celebrity Athletes and Their Children” in 2000. The book presented famous athletes in their role as fathers.
How many children do Diane Addonizio and Howie Long have?
They have three sons. Chris Long and Kyle Long are both retired NFL linemen. Howie Long Jr. works in player personnel for the Las Vegas Raiders.
What is Diane Addonizio’s net worth?
Her personal net worth has not been publicly reported. Profile sites cite about $1 million, but that figure is an unsourced estimate. The couple’s documented giving includes a $1 million commitment to Villanova University.
