The era of standout three-sport collegiate athletes has long since passed. While there was a time when numerous athletes on the Homewood campus made their mark in the fall, winter and spring, few, if any, did so at the level of John Lang, who excelled in lacrosse, football and basketball during his career at Hopkins in the late 1920s.
Best-noted for his exploits in lacrosse, Lang twice earned First Team All-America honors for the Blue Jays (1927 and 1928) while leading Hopkins to USILA National Championships in each of those years as well. The Blue Jays compiled a sparkling 17-2 record during their two title seasons with Lang leading the way. Inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1973 and a member of the All-Time Johns Hopkins Team, Lang was also a member of the Johns Hopkins team that represented the United States in the Olympics in Amsterdam.
There is a lack of information about Lang's exploits in football and basketball, but he was a key member of both teams during his undergraduate time at Homewood. He served as a team captain in basketball and was an outstanding halfback in football.
Lang joins his younger brother, Millard, in the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame. Millard Lang was a standout soccer and lacrosse player at Johns Hopkins in the early 1930s and was inducted in the Johns Hopkins Hall of Fame in 1995. John and Millard Lang are just the second set of brothers to be inducted in the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame as they join Doug and Jack Turnbull, who were both inducted in 1994.
