SJS News

This profile originally appeared in the Spring 2025 Review.

Bruce Long Fox ‘75 has dedicated his life to the belief in the power of education to change lives. As the Executive Director of Rural America Initiatives in Rapid City, SD, he developed and managed educational programs that have impacted the lives of approximately 9,000 at-risk Native American children, from newborn through high school. He has accomplished this through educational programming that is grounded in the traditional Lakota values of respect, compassion, honesty, generosity, humility, wisdom and a relationship with a higher power. Although he recently retired in May, he continues to work for RAI as a consultant.

Born in Pierre, SD, Bruce was raised by a single mother and had a challenging childhood. He was sent to St. Elizabeth’s Boarding School in Wakpala, SD, in fourth grade. With the help of his teachers there, it was discovered that Bruce was a gifted student. Father Vine Deloria, Sr., an Episcopal priest whose wife was from Maryland, arranged for Bruce to attend Saint James.

“I was out in a hay field picking up bales, and Father Deloria came out and said, ‘hey, Bruce, how would you like to go to a prep school in Maryland?’ And I said, no, I don't want to go. And he said, ‘sorry, your mother already approved it. We got your airplane tickets.’ So, Father Deloria was responsible for getting me there in 1970 when I entered the second form.”

Bruce was the only Native American student and experienced some culture shock economically and from being in a new environment.

“I was already used to a boarding school, and I was able to fit right in because of the rules; because it was setup that all of the students were equal. There wasn’t a lot of favoritism or any negative behavior towards me because I was a scholarship student,” he said.

Bruce excelled at athletics and adjusted well academically. He was inducted into the Cum Laude Society, was a prefect who was secretary of the Honor Council, and was president of the Varsity Club. He grew very close to his classmates, who he said became like a family.

“I’m very thankful for my experience at Saint James,” he said.

Bruce was close with longtime SJS faculty member and athletic director, Dave Barr, who was a Dartmouth alum. 

“From day one we called him DI, not Mr. Barr,” Bruce said. “He told me that I was going to go to Dartmouth, and I didn't want to for the longest time. But as I started looking, Dartmouth looked good. It was a school that was originally organized to provide an education to Native Americans.”

Bruce attended Dartmouth for three years, where he learned much from Professor Michael Dorris, author of Yellow Raft In Blue Water and Native American studies professor. Dorris inspired Bruce to have a good heart for the People.

After three years at Dartmouth, Bruce experienced trouble with alcohol and his grades dropped. He transferred to the University of South Dakota at Vermillion where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master of Business Administration. During this time, he also started dating and married his wife, Paula.

Bruce and Paula moved back to Rapid City where she worked as a social studies teacher and eventually a counselor. Unemployment was at 22 percent when Bruce finished college and he struggled to find work initially. He ended up working as an accounting instructor at Oglala Lakota College, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

“I was teaching mostly single, head-of-household moms who were on welfare, and I taught them to become bookkeepers,” he said. “A lot of them went on to get their bachelor’s and master’s degrees; they were motivated. It got me into this frame of mind of service, which comes from our spirituality.”

Bruce explained that in Lakota culture, you strive to be what’s called a “common man (or woman).” Ikce Wicasa translates to common man and signifies someone who is humble and down-to-earth, an unassuming individual who values community.

“We are supposed to serve the needs of our community,” he said. “It is a good common man's job to pave the way for the next generation by helping the children to grow and develop. We help the children and the elders and the weak ones because we want our culture to go on forever.”

For Bruce, connecting with his spirituality and his journey to sobriety went hand-in-hand with his desire to live a life of service and give back to his community. 

“When I was 38, my grandfather gave me an Indian name because I hadn't gotten one earlier. He was a peace pipe maker, so he carved a peace pipe for me. And when you become a pipe carrier, that kind of sets you on your trail because the chanupa is the instrument used to talk to God,” Bruce said. “Eventually I ended up doing sweat lodges, vision quests, and then I sun danced for 11 years. I was the leader of the Sun Dance for four of those years. About the same time, I quit drinking alcohol altogether, so the Lakota spirituality and the sobriety went together.”

Bruce started working at Rural America Initiatives (RAI) in 1990 and became Executive Director in 1992. RAI, having been founded in 1986, is the largest, non-profit, continuously operating Native American organization in Rapid City. RAI’s mission is to create community change by role modeling positive, healthy, alcohol and drug-free lifestyles while incorporating Lakota/Dakota cultural values so that families and children they teach now will have a lasting impact on future generations.

The RAI Native American Head Start programs are recognized nationally for their excellence. Bruce explained that while Rapid City has Head Start programs, many Native Americans would migrate to the city for employment but not on a cycle of a normal school year.

“When those families would come back to Rapid City in the fall, they'd be too late to get into the Head Start program that was already in existence,” Bruce said. “So, our founder got a resolution from all eight of the tribes that we could get Indian Head Start money in the urban area, and we were the first ones as a pilot project to use this funding. This allowed us to serve low-income, transitioning families.”

Another service at RAI that Bruce developed is the Ateyapi Fatherhood Mentoring program. In 2010, the dropout rate for Native American students at Rapid City Central High School was 63 percent. Just ten years later the dropout rate was cut in half, to 31 percent. 

“We wanted to help male adolescents because that was a time where they start to get into trouble and need some stability and guidance,” Bruce said. “One of the things we wanted to do was recreate the Lakota male role model. The kids became ashamed of themselves of being Lakota because they internalized the racism directed at them. We tried to make them proud of being Native American again, and that’s made all the difference in how they see themselves. It's a way of perpetuating our culture, but a way of perpetuating our families as well.”

In 2015 under Bruce’s leadership, RAI launched a capital campaign to build a school to replace modular and trailer buildings that had been in use for 30 years. A beautiful new facility opened in 2019 and the Early Head Start and Head Start students are thriving. Growth was always anticipated and the building materials and systems are designed to be expanded. The building was built in a circular design, reflecting a Medicine Wheel when the circle is completed. RAI launched a new capital campaign in 2022, planning to add eight additional classrooms and extend the wheel.

Led by classmate Jim Jasper ’75, the Class of 1975 made a gift to RAI’s capital campaign. 

"Quiet and funny, Bruce was always the moral center of our class, our leader," Jim said. "He was also the tallest kid around, which helped a lot at Saint James in those days. Once he found his footing in adult life, he grew naturally into a leader in the Lakota community. RAI is impressive. As a class we decided to contribute our 50th-reunion class gift to it, not only to honor Bruce but also because the Lakota community needs it badly."

Bypass surgery in mid-March prevented Bruce from going to his 50th reunion but he joined his classmates for a special Zoom meet-up.

“Even 50 years later, I feel close to my classmates, at least the 16 of us who started and went through the whole experience together. If I had not gone to Saint James, most of the people that I grew up with ended up in prison or ended up dead,” Bruce said. “Saint James created a path and pushed me down it.”

Bruce and Paula have two sons, one who lives in Rapid City and the other in Denver, CO. Bruce was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2020, and although he recently retired from RAI, his efforts will help future generations to survive and thrive.