Halftime of the Parkway South High School boys basketball game against Oakville was extended a bit longer than usual as the Patriots inducted 2007 graduate and golf star Scott Langley into their hall of fame.
The ceremony featured Langley, now a student at the University of Illinois , and his former coaches and athletic director, Chip Allison.
Allison recounted Langley’s accomplishments at Parkway South and his feats since leaving, including a 16th-place finish at the 2010 US Open.
Langley won the crowd’s approval in acknowledging not only his family but his girlfriend, Allison.
Following the ceremony Langley said he never could have dreamed of such an event when he was a student at Parkway South.
“This is one of the greatest honors I have had in my life, its satisfying after all the work I’ve put in, but I’ve never experienced anything like that, it was awesome,” said Langley.
During the second half of the basketball game and for quite awhile after the game Langley signed autographs in the lobby of the gymnasium area. Parkway South lost the game to Oakville, 41-36.
Langley is only the sixth person to receive this recognition from the school.
Patriots golf coach Mark Wade rattled off numerous accomplishments when asked to describe his former player.
“Let’s start with the fact that he was a four-year all-conference selection, conference player of the year three times and all-state his sophomore, junior and senior years,” said Wade.
“But the statistic that is most amazing,” added Wade, “is that over a four-year career involving over 60 competitions for us (Parkway South) his stroke average was plus-1.12. Basically you could pencil in exactly what he was going to get before the round even started and most likely he’d beat that number.”
Langley’s results since graduating from Parkway South in 2007 continue to impress as he won an individual NCAA championship in 2010 for Illinois and also qualified for the 2010 U.S. Open with two rounds of 66. He finished with the lowest score among amateurs at the competition.
In the classroom, Wade recalled Langley as an honors student who allowed only his devotion to golf to impinge on his academics.
“I had him in my honors geometry class as a freshman and he was a scholar-athlete … as his senior year unfolded, he decided to focus as much attention on golf as possible. So he dropped his calculus class, but then he went and took it in his first year of college and got an A,” said Wade.
While Parkway South was impacted positively during Langley's four years there, Langley considers his former school, and its coaches and teachers, a major positive influence in his life, also.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back and seeing some familiar faces and being able to say ‘hi’ to many of the people who helped me reach where I am today,” said Langley.
As a golfer and as a person, Langley cites his experience at South as being key to shaping him and helping him learn how to succeed.
“That’s where I grew up and my coaches at South guided me along, helped me with the little stuff and taught me a lot about being a golfer and being myself,” said Langley.
Fortunately for Langley, being a golfer is a huge part of who he is, though he confesses his dream job would be hosting a late-night TV show. But that dream will have to wait as he focuses on taking his game to the next level following graduation from Illinois this spring.
“After I graduate I plan to stay amateur until the Walker Cup, which is the top amateur competition, and I hope to make that team and then following that I plan to turn pro,” said Langley.
