Remembering Western's Dave Lang
Everyone who knew Dave Lang, the Western athletic director who died suddenly over Memorial Day weekend, certainly feels a sense of shock and loss this week.
Many will gather at the Ruck Funeral Home in Towson to visit his wife Sharon and son Jonathan and to remember Dave from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. His funeral will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Church in Cockeysville.
I didn’t know Lang that well, just from doing my job. That's how my colleague Mike Frainie knew him, too, and we want to share a few of our own memories about one of the true nice guys in our high school sports universe. Mike's thoughts follow mine.
The media covering high school sports can be a handful sometimes, especially because high school athletics departments are not set up to deal with the media as college programs are. A lot falls on the athletic director and Dave always seemed happy to help out.
And he had to help out reporters around here quite often. Western had a lot of good teams during the 10 years he spent there. The basketball and track teams were regular regional and state-title contenders. Those two and every other team had their share — some would say more than their share — of city championships.
Whenever I called him, he always had an answer for me or he knew where I could get one. Sitting in his office with him while writing a basketball story after a tournamnt — as people came, asked questions, got answers and left, Dave always had a few funny lines. He just always seemed upbeat — harried sometimes but still smiling.
That’s not easy because an athletic director's job is something like juggling 10 balls while riding a unicycle as fast as you can through an obstacle course. You’ve got to balance things at top speed and deal with the hourly crises that pop up in your path. He did those things and more.
Bob Wade, Dave's boss as coordinator of athletics for the Baltimore City Public Schools, told me Wednesday he had been talking with Western principal Eleanor Matthews on Tuesday when she suddenly said she had to get going. She had to cover Dave’s cafeteria duty.
Dave Lang was one of those people you relied on more than you realized. He was someone you looked forward to seeing more than you realized. He was just a nice guy in a world that seems to have fewer and fewer nice guys all the time. I will miss him every minute I spend at Western High School.
From Mike Frainie:
In my job as a freelance reporter, I often get assignments on very short notice. I could be in Harford County covering a wrestling match one day, and in Baltimore City covering a basketball game the next.
As much as I try to find information on the teams I cover, sometimes it’s not easy. Dave was always a great source of information, and a great help. Half the battle when I do a high school preview capsule is getting information. It can be a real challenge. He was always reachable, which is very important when you’re on a deadline. He would either get me the information I was asking for, or give me a source that would help me.
He always seemed very interested in me as a person, and my job as a freelancer. I found this interesting because he was such a trailblazer. It took a special person to be a male athletic director at a public all-girls school. I always thought he handled it with such grace and class.
Teachers and Administrators, in my opinion, are supposed to serve as good examples for young kids. The Dave I knew never fell short in that category. He will be missed.
